ST. CLOUD, Minn. — In St. Cloud, there's now a new memorial where police say a teenage driver intentionally hit and killed a 70-year-old man in a stolen car.
Court documents show the teen is being charged with first- and second-degree murder.
The judge set bail at $2,000,000 unconditional, and $1,000,000 with conditions.
The crash happened Friday on a sidewalk on the north side of town, just west of the Mississippi River. Those documents say the teen admitted to intentionally planning the attack before striking Norbert Olmscheid.
The documents say the teen stole a car from the nearby YMCA and saw Olmscheid walking on the sidewalk. He then turned onto the sidewalk, started driving slowly behind Olmscheid and then accelerated, striking him from behind.
The teen admitted to listening to a song about murder at the time of the crash.
Although the nature of the crime is serious, experts say crimes like this committed by youth are down significantly.
"The youth crime rate peaked in about 1995 to 1996 and has dropped about 80% ever since," said Director of Youth Justice at the Sentencing Project Josh Rovner. The Sentencing Project is a research and advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
"Over the long term, there’s no doubt we’re seeing a lot fewer kids — and adults for that matter — arrested, but youth crime rates have dropped faster than for any other demographic," said Rovner.
Rovner's data is in line with the U.S. Department of Justice which shows more than 424,000 people under 18 were arrested in 2020 (the most recent year for which data are available). That's 38% fewer than the year before and less than one in 10 were for a violent crime.
"When kids get in trouble in this country, for the most part, it's on the lower level things you'd expect teenagers get in trouble for," said Rovner.
He says the falling crime rates could be in part to lower pregnancy rates and fewer kids drinking and smoking, but that sensational crimes like the one that happened in St. Cloud are hard to forget.
"That’s why we need to rely on the data to see what things look like long term," said Rovner. "None of that negates the fact that these awful stories are part of our lives and stick with us."
It's likely the teen will have to undergo a mental health evaluation next to determine if he's competent to stand trial.
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