A 39-year-old man died Wednesday night after crashing his pickup truck into a retaining wall on St. Paul’s East Side, the fatal end to a chase that started with a stolen pair of earbuds at a Maplewood school parking lot — and that Ramsey County deputies say they had already called off before the crash happened.
Ace Arthur Collins was identified as the driver who crashed in the 400 block of English Street on September 9, according to the Pioneer Press. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said Collins apparently tried to flee from the moving vehicle himself, and Fletcher told the paper Collins may have been run over by the dual rear wheels of his own pickup truck. Officers began life-saving measures at the scene, and St. Paul Fire Department medics later took over and transported Collins to Regions Hospital, where he later died. Regions is the only Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center serving the east Twin Cities metro, according to HealthPartners Regions Hospital.
How the Chase Began at Hill-Murray School
The chain of events started earlier that day when witnesses reported seeing someone breaking into vehicles in the parking lot at Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, per the Pioneer Press account. Hill-Murray is a private Catholic Benedictine school serving grades 6 through 12 on East Larpenteur Avenue, according to Hill-Murray School. A pair of stolen earbuds became the case’s unlikely lead: their owner tracked the earbuds’ location and that information was dispatched to law enforcement.
A Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy spotted the described vehicle near Hazelwood Street and Magnolia Avenue in St. Paul and activated squad lights and sirens, the report states. The driver kept going toward Johnson Parkway rather than stopping. The deputy soon lost sight of the vehicle and terminated the pursuit before Third Street, Fletcher said — meaning the chase was already over by the department’s account when the pickup ultimately crashed.
Driver Found With Life-Threatening Injuries
St. Paul officer Nikki Muehlhausen found the driver near the crashed vehicle suffering life-threatening head injuries, and the vehicle itself had struck a retaining wall in the 400 block of English Street. Fletcher said officials were still talking to witnesses and looking for video of the crash as the investigation continued, and the Minnesota State Patrol assisted with reconstructing how the crash unfolded.
A Pattern of Prior Vehicle Crimes
Court records show Collins had a prior criminal history in Minnesota, including a sentence on a burglary charge related to incidents at an apartment complex on Guider Drive, according to Woodbury Patch. That history provides context for this week’s fatal crash.
Diverging Pursuit Policies Across Ramsey County
The chase highlights a split in how local law enforcement approaches vehicle pursuits. Sheriff Fletcher’s department permits deputies to chase suspects in property crimes and vehicle thefts when the risks are considered manageable, a stance that contrasts with the St. Paul Police Department’s policy of restricting pursuits primarily to violent felonies, according to Police1. That difference helps explain why a Ramsey County deputy, rather than St. Paul police, initiated the chase inside city limits…