Criminal charges filed Tuesday allege a man was extremely drunk when he plowed his SUV into a crowded bar patio in St. Louis Park over the Labor Day weekend, killing two people and injuring at least nine others.
Charges: Driver’s BAC was 0.325% when he drove into Park Tavern patio, killing 2
Steven Bailey has five drunken driving convictions on his record, according to court documents.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 4, 2024 at 6:25PM
Steven Frane Bailey, 56, of St. Louis Park was charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and nine counts of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the wreck at Park Tavern about 8 p.m. Sunday.
The crash killed 30-year-old employee Kristina Marie Folkerts of St. Louis Park, and customer Gabriel Quinn Harvey of Rosemount, a 30-year-old health unit coordinator at nearby Methodist Hospital and nursing school student, who was there with others celebrating a colleague’s departure.
Bailey remains jailed on $1 million bail. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. Court records did not list an attorney for him.
The charges say that law enforcement administered a preliminary breath test at HCMC, and it measured his blood alcohol content at 0.325%, more than four times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota. Court documents show Bailey has five drunken-driving convictions on his record dating back to when he was a teenager.
“What was supposed to be the end of a wonderful holiday weekend turned into a horrific tragedy that is made even worse by the fact that this was totally preventable,” County Attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference after the charges were filed. “In a time where we have more options than ever to ensure a safe ride home, Mr. Bailey made the choice to get behind the wheel while highly intoxicated and dramatically altered the lives of so many people.”
Moriarty did not know how fast the car was going in the lot and did not know how many people were on the patio at the time of the crash. But she said children were present, and a number of them left the patio shortly before the crash. Although none were injured, the presence of children is an aggravating factor the prosecution will cite to push for a longer sentence for Bailey if he is convicted.
According to the criminal complaint:
Bailey was seen on surveillance video pulling into the tavern parking lot and driving past an open spot. He then hit a parked car when he tried to back into that spot, pulled out and then accelerated toward the patio. He plowed through the metal fence into the patio seating area and hit several people. His vehicle came to a stop when it hit some boulders. He was traveling anywhere from 30 to 45 miles per hour while going “all the way through the patio area.”
Folkerts was pinned under the vehicle. Officers lifted the vehicle off her, but she died at the scene despite lifesaving efforts. Harvey was pronounced dead at HCMC.
Officers approached Bailey’s SUV and heard him on the phone saying, “I hit the gas instead of the brake and went right through a thing,” and, “I’m probably going to jail.”
The officers detected that Bailey was calm but slow to respond to directions. His speech was slurred, and his eyes were bloodshot and watery. Once out of the SUV, he fell to his knees. Told he was going to undergo field sobriety tests, he said, “You don’t need to do fields. I know what I did.”
A statement from HealthPartners, which operates Methodist Hospital, said four nurses were injured. Online fundraising campaigns have identified three of the victims who gathered at Park Tavern:
- Laura Knutsen was being celebrated ahead of starting her studies this week at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn., to be a certified registered nurse anesthetist, the campaign on her behalf posted. Knutsen has extensive fractures and numerous traumatic injuries and was being treated at HCMC, the posting read.
- Tegan D’Albani, 34, was being treated for injuries as serious as Knutsen’s and also is at HCMC, her supporters noted. The charges listed her injuries as broken legs, pelvis, ribs and dislocated knees.
- Theo Larson “has been a longtime employee of the Methodist Hospital ICU starting as a nursing assistant there and now has been a nurse for many years,” the campaign on his behalf read. Larson was admitted to North Memorial Health Hospital with multiple skull, facial and orbital fractures, the posting read. The criminal complaint added he has “complete memory loss.”
An HCMC spokeswoman said Tuesday afternoon that Knutsen and D’Albani were in serious condition. Larson was in fair condition, a hospital spokesman said.
Six additional victims suffered injuries that included bruises and road rash.
Driver’s criminal history behind the wheel
Bailey’s history of drunken-driving convictions starts in 1985 with a conviction in Wisconsin when he was 17 years old, according to court documents. Additional convictions for drunken driving followed in Wabasha County in 1993 and in Hennepin County in 1998, court records show.
In 2014, he was found guilty of misdemeanor fourth-degree drunken driving after being stopped by police in Waseca for failing to signal a turn. Law enforcement measured his blood alcohol content at the time at 0.16%, twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
He was convicted again in 2015 for gross misdemeanor third-degree drunken driving after a police officer in Plymouth did a random registration check and saw Bailey’s driving privileges had been canceled because of the previous drunken-driving offense. Atthe time of Sunday’s crash, Bailey was driving with a valid license, state officials said.
A preliminary breath test administered to Bailey about 90 minutes after he was stopped measured his blood alcohol content at 0.08%, the minimum needed to allege intoxication.
Park Tavern, at 3401 S. Louisiana Av., has been closed since the crash. The owner said he expects to reopen Wednesday. The tavern plans to hold a memorial and fundraiser for crash victims at a later date, the owner said. It also plans to plant a tree in memory of the crash victims.
The St. Louis Park Police Department believes more people were hurt in the crash. Anyone injured who hasn’t yet been interviewed can call the department at 952-924-2165 and leave their full name, contact information and connection to the incident so an investigator can call back. Anyone who witnessed any part of the crash and captured video or photos is asked to submit them online to police at bit.ly/parktavernvehicleincident.
Star Tribune staff writer Elliot Hughes contributed to this story.
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