Officials on Thursday identified the man who died in a collision in Maplewood with a domestic assault suspect who was fleeing police.
Officials ID motorist killed in Twin Cities collision with unlicensed driver fleeing police
Nicholas Price was being pursued after a report of domestic assault, according to charges filed this week.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 19, 2024 at 2:58PM
Apostle L, 61, of St. Paul, died from injuries suffered in the crash on Dec. 13 at Edgerton Street and Bellwood Avenue in Maplewood, the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office said. Court records show he changed his name from Loel Charles in 2018.
Nicholas John Price, 37, of Roseville, was arrested and remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail after being charged with causing a death while fleeing police and criminal vehicular homicide in connection. He’s due back in court on Jan. 6.
Price was driving at the time after his license had been revoked, the state Department of Public Safety said Monday.
Prosecutors also charged Price on Monday with threats of violence and domestic assault stemming from a former girlfriend’s allegations.
A 29-year-old woman called 911 and said she was at Price’s home, where her former boyfriend threatened to set her on fire, grabbed her by the throat, shoved her head into a wall and pushed her down some steps.
About 10:20 p.m., police in Roseville saw the SUV heading east on W. County Road B near Dale Street and sought to pull him over by ramming his vehicle, but Price fled. Sheriff’s deputies joined police in the pursuit near E. County Road C and Rice Street. The chase ended about 10:30 p.m., when Price crashed his SUV into a car near Edgerton Street and Bellwood Avenue in Maplewood.
Price, who suffered a broken leg in the crash, was arrested at the scene. Emergency responders took L to a hospital, where he died.
Video from a vehicle at the intersection showed the car on northbound Edgerton and turning left onto Bellwood. Price hit the car while speeding south on Edgerton.
Price told a sheriff’s investigator that his former girlfriend moved out of his home the day before and returned to speak with him on Friday. He said she accused him of cheating on her. Price said he tried to leave, but she was in his way, “so he moved her with an open hand,” one complaint read. He accused her of lying about him hitting her.
Price estimated that he was driving 80 to 90 miles per hour just before impact.
Price said he had taken oxycodone that belonged to his former girlfriend and smoked marijuana on the day of the crash. Law enforcement collected a blood sample from Price to have tested for illicit drugs.
Court records in Minnesota show that Price’s criminal history includes four convictions for driving either after his license was revoked or suspended, and once each for drunken driving and driving without insurance. He’s also been convicted four times for receiving stolen property, three times for theft and once each for illegal weapons possession, burglary, check forgery, disorderly conduct and obstructing police.
At the time of the crash, three felony cases in Ramsey County were pending resolution. They accuse him of stealing a television from a St. Paul apartment complex, assaulting a man in Little Canada and vehicle theft in Maplewood.
Sheriff Joe Leko said the man “was incoherent, and his condition deteriorated. ... We rushed him to the hospital as soon as we could.”
