Maplewood crash that killed two teens may have been part of a 'game' to flee police, chief says
Sep. 7—Friday was the third straight day that North St. Paul police spotted the same stolen car.
Each time, an officer followed the car but called off the pursuit because someone behind the wheel was driving recklessly. But Friday's chase ended in tragedy, the city's police chief said Tuesday.
Two passengers, 14- and 15-year-old students at North High School in North St. Paul, died when their 15-year-old friend crashed outside a home in Maplewood. The Ramsey County attorney's office has charged that teen with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
The driver, who the Ramsey County sheriff's office said has a "significant" history of auto theft, also faces a charge of fleeing a peace officer and three counts of criminal vehicular operation.
The school resource officer at North heard a rumor around school "that this was a giant game," North St. Paul Police Chief Phil Baebenroth said.
"She heard there was a point-scoring system amongst this group of kids where you get more points if you can have the cops pursue you and then get away, which is sad to hear this type of very dangerous game that it sounded like was being played," he said.
Alyjah Thomas, 15, of Oakdale, and Marcoz Paramo, 14, of Maplewood, were the boys who died, according to the Ramsey County medical examiner's office.
Paramo's mother said she doesn't want the driver "held responsible for my son's death, because he's not the one who caused it."
"I know he had made some bad choices and he should take responsibility for that," Tanya Gile said Tuesday of the driver. "It's not his fault that they crashed. They were all friends. I blame the sheriffs and the police that pursued that chase for my son's death."
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, however, said the responsibility falls solely on the driver.
Around 3:40 p.m. Friday, a Ramsey County sheriff's deputy tried to pull over the stolen car in the area of North Beebe Road and East Holloway Avenue. When the driver kept going, the deputy followed west on Larpenteur Avenue but lost sight of the car near Clarence Street, according to a Friday statement from the sheriff's office.
About three blocks later, the car crashed into a residential yard near Larpenteur and Chamber Street.
The sheriff's office said the incident covered about two miles in two minutes. The Minnesota State Patrol will determine the vehicle's exact speed, but Fletcher said video indicated it was more than 90 mph.
About 20 minutes elapsed from when a North St. Paul officer pursued the vehicle Friday and a deputy spotted it and tried to pull over the driver, according to Fletcher.
"During that time that law enforcement had lost the vehicle, the driver and the occupants had an opportunity to park the car, get out and leave," he said Tuesday. "Everyone in that car at the time that North St. Paul was chasing was put on notice that this car was wanted by law enforcement."
The North St. Paul officer who briefly followed the vehicle around 3:20 p.m. canceled the pursuit because the car veered into oncoming traffic, Baebenroth said.
After the crash, three people ran from the vehicle while three others stayed inside, including the two who were critically injured. Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene and Paramo at Regions Hospital, according to the medical examiner's office.
Other people in the vehicle were taken to the hospital for evaluation and treatment.
The driver was the only one of the six who was not located immediately after the crash, but was taken into custody Friday night. He is being held at the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center, according to the county attorney's office.
He made an initial appearance Tuesday afternoon in Ramsey County Juvenile Court and is scheduled to be in court again next week.
Sharon Thompson-Carter, manager of the Ramsey County public defender's juvenile unit, said Tuesday they've just received the case and had initial conversations with the 15-year-old and his family.
"Everyone is grieving the losses and the case will move forward as we have more information," she said.
The 15-year-old has not previously been charged with auto theft by the Ramsey County attorney's office.
SHERIFF'S OFFICE PURSUIT POLICY
Ramsey County commissioners said in November they had been hearing from people concerned about Fletcher's pursuit of a stolen vehicle in St. Paul, but they acknowledged he sets policy for his own department.
Fletcher said at the time that his office allowed the pursuit of stolen vehicles but that deputies had to weigh the risks.
"The primary risk we're concerned about is to innocent parties," Fletcher said Tuesday. "We're secondarily concerned about the fleeing vehicle, but the risk that's the highest priority is for innocent persons that may be in the path."
Fletcher said they're always looking at whether policy changes are needed, but he said, "We're not doing kids any favors by not attempting to hold them accountable when they steal cars or when they flee the police. When we don't try to hold them accountable, we embolden them to steal more cars and to flee more often."
The car that crashed Friday was a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe stolen from Lakeville on Aug. 29, according to the sheriff's office. North St. Paul police pursued it Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, calling off the pursuit each time, Baebenroth said.
County Board Chairwoman Toni Carter addressed Friday's fatal crash at a board meeting Tuesday, saying she wanted to acknowledge the families' loss.
"I know we were thinking of them, and we'll continue to do so as we explore and get additional information regarding that accident," she said.
In the case of the stolen vehicle in November, St. Paul police officers were not allowed to pursue it because the city department's policy specifies they can chase only if a person has committed or is about to commit a violent felony, or the person's driving poses "an imminent and life-threatening danger."
The sheriff's office, which is not subject to St. Paul's policy, allows "pursuit of stolen vehicles as long as the risk doesn't become severe," Fletcher wrote on Facebook in November.
'SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT'
Marcoz Paramo was at the Minnesota State Fair on Thursday, after Fletcher made arrangements for him and other young people from his townhouse community to attend, according to Gile and the sheriff. Fletcher spent time with them at the Fair and they had a wonderful time, Gile said.
Paramo, a freshman, went to North High School on Friday and got a ride after school with a friend, his mother said.
When Fletcher found out that Paramo had been in the crash, he picked up Gile and drove her to the hospital.
"I'm heartbroken for the mother and for the family," Fletcher said Tuesday.
But Gile said her son — who she described as a smart, funny teen who dreamed of becoming an NBA player — and Alyjah Thomas should never have died.
"My main concern is I don't ever want this to happen to another child," she said. "... My son didn't deserve for these police departments that chased him to not be considerate of anybody's life that was in that vehicle."
A cousin of Alyjah Thomas, who said she thought of him as her nephew, wrote an open message to the media, asking to "help us change the narrative" for him "and not let this tragic car accident and the circumstances that surround it become his life legacy. He was so much more than that."
Thomas, who was in 10th grade, came to her family's farm the last few summers to help them and loved being with his family, wrote Elaina McMillan. He asked if this Labor Day weekend he and all the family could go to his grandmother's house because he missed her.
"Alyjah, all over 6 feet tall of him, would often come sit on the couch next to me and lay his head on my shoulder," McMillan wrote, remembering the boy who learned to speak in nearly full sentences at 1 and to swim when he was 2. She said he loved children and was "always holding the baby of the family at family functions" and playing with younger relatives.
Nick Ferraro contributed to this report.
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HOW TO HELP
Families of both teens who died are fundraising for their funeral expenses. A site for Alyjah Thomas can be found at gofundme.com/f/memorial-funding-for-alyjah-thomas-age-15 and for Marcoz Paramo at gofundme.com/f/please-help-with-paying-tribute-to-marcos.
