A driver died 1 1⁄2 It’s weeks after a driver was injured in a crash in St. Cloud that left a trail while fleeing from law enforcement, authorities said.
An amended criminal complaint filed last week now charges 28-year-old Samuel Z. Butler with felony vehicular homicide among five other felonies in connection with the Dec. 12 three-vehicle crash.
The driver, a man, was taken by paramedics to St. Cloud Hospital, died 10 days later and has not yet been identified by authorities. Charges against Butler noted that he was unconscious the entire time of the crash and suffered two broken legs and a head injury.
Butler, of Albany, Minn., appeared in court Friday and remains in jail in lieu of $250,000 bail pending a March 3 hearing. Butler’s attorney did not immediately comment.
Other charges against Butler include two counts of eluding law enforcement, criminal operation of a motor vehicle, theft of a vehicle, criminal damage to property and a misdemeanor drug offense.
Butler has been in trouble with the law throughout his adult life, court records show. He has been convicted eight times for drug offenses, five times for driving with a suspended license, and once for weapons offenses, assault, car theft, violating a no-contact order, shoplifting and theft.
According to last week’s allegations:
At about 10:50 a.m., the sheriff’s office was alerted to Butler driving erratically and sometimes on the wrong side of the road about 8 miles west of Sartell in St. Wendel Township. A sheriff’s sergeant began chasing Butler down County Road 4 toward St. Cloud.
The sergeant activated his emergency lights in St. Cloud after Butler pulled into the parking lot of the Kwik Trip gas station at County Roads 4 and 120, but Butler returned to County Road 4 and fled south.
Workers there said Butler abandoned the SUV on Glenview Loop, stole a pickup truck with a trailer from a construction site and hit a street light as he resumed his flight. The sergeant looked in the SUV and saw evidence of illegal drug use.
Around 11 a.m., a police officer spotted the stolen pickup speeding on Sartell, turned on his emergency lights and chased the truck south on Hwy. 15. Butler went off the road, through a grassy area at N. 14th and 32nd Streets, then struck multiple vehicles at an apartment complex before striking several trees and shrubs.
Butler returned to the road, sped through stop signs and collided with a Chevy Silverado pickup at the intersection of N. 36th Street and N. 10th Street in St. Cloud. Butler continued on his way until he hit a tree in front of a nearby house.
The driver of the SUV was transported by EMS to St. Cloud Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The charges do not mention any injuries to the driver of the Silverado.
Firefighters extricated Butler from the stolen pickup, and he was jailed two days later.