MINNEAPOLIS — A 23-year-old Twin Cities man was sentenced to 7 and 1/2 years in prison after he stole a truck, fled from police and fatally struck another vehicle while high on opiates.
Adam Pattishall was charged with criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation in the crash, which took place in Brooklyn Park on May 15, 2022. Dan Fisher was killed that day and his wife Katie was seriously hurt, suffering a brain injury, broken back and other injuries.
On Friday inside a Hennepin County courtroom Judge Julie Allyn sentenced Pattishall to 92 months for Dan Fisher's death and 48 months for severely injuring Kate Fisher. The defendant will serve the sentences concurrently, meaning he will likely be released from prison in just over five years.
Before Pattishall was sentenced Katie Fisher walked slowly to the podium using a cane to make her victim impact statement. She detailed how she has no memory of that tragic day or the entire month before the crash and listed the injuries she suffered, ranging from a torn diaphragm, broken back and multiple strokes from when her heart stopped on the crash scene.
More hurtful than her own injuries, Fisher told the court, was the loss of her husband and "best friend" Dan. "Every day I pray it was painless and that he went quickly, I hope that Dan wasn't afraid, and that all our loved ones were on the other side to greet him," she said tearfully.
When the crash happened Dan and Katie were on their way to pick up their daughter Grace from a sleepover. Katie Fisher shared she was glad Grace wasn't in the car when they were struck, and talked about the special relationship between dad and daughter with inside jokes and time spent together.
Lastly, Fisher called for the state of Minnesota to re-examine its sentencing guidelines, saying what Pattishall did was murder, pure and simple.
"I do hope someday I'm able to forgive," she told the court. "But that will take time."
When given his chance to speak, Pattishall spoke in a quiet, shaky voice, apologizing for his poor decisions that morning.
"I just want everyone to know that I'm sorry, and if I could go back and take back what happened that day I would," Pattishall said. "I've got to live with this on my conscience for the rest of my life. I understand a lot of people are mad at me, and I don't blame them."
Pattishall also promised to turn his life around and take advantage of his second chance after he is released from prison.
A criminal complaint filed following the incident said an Osseo police officer was on patrol that morning when he spotted a suspicious vehicle at a car wash. Inside the stolen white pickup was Pattishall, who took off at a high rate of speed.
The officer did not activate lights and sirens but followed the pickup at a distance as it sped down County Road 81 into Brooklyn Park. He eventually came to the intersection of 81 and Brooklyn Boulevard where the truck had crashed into a Kia SUV. The driver of that vehicle, Dan Fisher, was dead and his wife Katie was in critical condition.
Responding officers located Pattishall leaving a nearby gas station and took him into custody. Investigators say he admitted to ingesting heroin before the crash. Police also found 12 grams of a substance on Pattishall that later tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl.
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