MINNEAPOLIS — A St. Paul man is charged with three felony counts, including criminal vehicular homicide, after he allegedly ran into another vehicle at a Brooklyn Park intersection while fleeing police in a stolen truck.
Hennepin County prosecutors also say 22-year-old Adam Pattishall told police that he ingested heroin before the fatal crash.
A criminal complaint filed against Pattishall says an Osseo police officer was checking out a suspicious vehicle at a car wash shortly after 7:15 a.m. Sunday when a white Chevrolet pickup sped out of an adjacent stall and drove out of the parking lot at a high rate of speed.
The officer did not activate lights and sirens but followed at a distance as the truck sped down County Road 81, running at least one stop light. Just over a mile down the road he drove up on a crash scene at the intersection of 81 and Brooklyn Boulevard in Brooklyn Park, and saw that the white Chevy truck had rear ended a Kia Sportage SUV. A man driving the Kia was declared dead on the scene, while a female passenger was rushed to a hospital in critical condition. Prosecutors say she has since undergone multiple surgeries for injuries ranging from a brain bleed to a fractured back.
Witnesses told investigators that the Kia was stopped at a red light when the pickup hit it from behind at speeds estimated at 70 miles per hour. On person on the scene said brake lights on the truck never illuminated, indicating the driver never attempted to stop.
Responding officers were told that a man wearing a reflective vest, white shirt and white pants had run from the truck towards local businesses. Police subsequently saw a man later identified as Pattishall leaving a gas station with fresh blood on his clothes and hand, and took him into custody. They learned from witnesses he was seen entering the bathroom and exiting with different clothing.
The complaint says a search of the bathroom turned up a sweatshirt and Chevrolet key fob.
Officers searched Pattishall and found more than 12 grams of a crystalline substance that later tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl. Police say the defendant told them he had ingested heroin prior to the fatal crash. Results from blood tests of the defendant are pending.
Investigators traced the truck Pattishall was driving and found it had been stolen during the burglary of a business earlier that morning.
Along with one count of criminal vehicular homicide, Adam Pattishall is charged with criminal vehicular operation and third-degree drug possession.
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