WATCH: County attorney announces charges in fatal Park Tavern crash

On Sunday evening, September 1st officers were dispatched to park Tavern in Saint Louis Park on a report of a motor vehicle driving through the patio and striking multiple patrons upon arrival. Officers observed a gray BMW up against large boulders at the base of a hill on the south side of the patio. Based on officer observation and witness statements, the operator of the vehicle, Steven Frayne Bailey had driven through the metal fence surrounding the park tavern patio and had struck several people. There are a total of 11 victims in this incident, two victims, Christina Folkerts and Gabe Harvey tragically lost their lives and several other victims are struggling with severe injuries. When police arrived, Mr Bailey, the driver of the vehicle was still inside and was the sole occupant. He made statements acknowledging that he was under the influence and a preliminary breath test showed that he was more than four times the legal limit. It was 0.325. What was supposed to be the end of a wonderful holiday weekend turned into a horrific tragedy that is made even worse by the fact that all of this was completely preventable. This did not have to happen in a time where we have more options than ever to ensure a safe ride home. Mr Bailey made the choice to get behind the wheel of his vehicle while highly intoxicated and dramatically altered the lives of so many people. My heart is with Christina's three Children who will now have to grow up without their mother and her family and friends who will miss her forever. My heart is with Gabe's family partner and loved ones and my heart is with all the staff members and patrons at Park Tavern who will have the traumatic image of a vehicle barreling through the patio and striking so many folks forever seared into their memory. They deserved better. And it's a shame that one person's choice has left indelible scars on so many lives. Nothing can change what happened on Sunday night. But we can and will hold people accountable when they choose to get behind the wheel while intoxicated and kill and injure people. And so it is with that in mind that we announce the following charges, two counts of criminal vehicular homicide, nine counts of criminal vehicular operation. The number of charges may rise if more victims are located or come forward. I want to thank all of the officers from the various departments that quickly responded to this tragedy and prevented an even worse outcome from happening. Thank you to all of the first responders who provided critical medical aid that undoubtedly saved lives that night. But above else, I want to extend my deepest heartfelt condolences to the families of Christina and Gabe who tragically lost their lives because someone made a selfish decision with that. I will take a few questions. What's your reaction to the fact that he still had his driver's license after? What's a pretty horrible driving record which deep into the files, you can find that he actually had five con convictions for DWY. That's, uh, I would say the responsibility of the Department of Public Safety, um, having a license is a privilege. Um, and the Department of Public Safety sets the standards for when a person gets their license back. But the bottom line is whether he had a license or not, he made the decision to get into a car after drinking. And I would say about those priors this, you know, most people who get charged with the DW, I don't come back. It's a wake up call. And so someone who has prior DWIs who still doesn't make a plan, uh, if he's going to drink to get home safely, uh, is hugely problematic regardless of whether he had a license or not. What sort of a time would you be? It depends. The, as a, the, the two first charges are criminal vehicular homicide. Excuse me, the other charges are criminal vehicular hop operation. Those are somewhat dependent on the severity of the injuries of others. So we're gonna have to wait and see what the hospital records say, see if there are other victims here and sit down and figure out what is an appropriate sense in this case if he is convicted, can you describe how fast the car was moving from when it first entered the parking lot to when it ended up crashing into the patio? Uh The state patrol arrived at the scene and they are doing accident reconstruction. So I would expect them to have information on that. I would expect to have more information about that in the coming weeks. One thing that we do know is that he rapidly accelerated and there didn't seem to be any application of any breaks. His uh statement according to the complaint is that he was hurt saying he hit the gas instead of a brake. Um, does the evidence kind of support that that's how this went down. Yes, there is a video, um, that does show that, do you know how many people were on the patio at the time? I do not. Um, I do know that there were Children present, uh which is one of the reasons why we are going to file a blankly notice that would give us the option of a greater sentence. I've been told that there were Children who moved off the patio to go bowling just before this happened. No, they would call the ST Louis Park Police Department and that's true. I, there, we, we had nine victims. I mean, some people were seriously injured and taken to Hennepin Medical Center. If there is anybody else who has injuries that just didn't report it in the chaos that followed, they should contact, uh, the Saint Louis Park Police Department. Can you speak at all to his intent? Was he going there to perhaps enjoy a night out? Was he trying to park? And for some reason, chose not to, I mean, can you speak to any, uh, I can't speak to his intent. Um What we know is that he appeared to be trying to park in the parking lot, hit another car and then hit another car that was moving and then, uh, it appears he hit the accelerator instead of the brake, but I, I don't know, was he trying then to perhaps leave or was he then trying to find a different spot? We don't know as far as context on the charges of when somebody's not intentionally trying to kill people, but they're drunk and obviously reckless. Is this basically the, like the biggest charges they can get in a situation like this criminal vehicular homicide? Yes. Um But as I said, we will file a notice of blakely, um, in non technical terms, that means we would be asking permission to seek a greater sentence potentially if we feel that that's appropriate when we gather all of the information here. It, it does in terms of, uh, looking at what's appropriate um you know, in first time DWIs, those are misdemeanor offenses. Um He is at the point of having felony charges. I think even if this hadn't been um, a criminal vehicular homicide, but we will be looking at all of the information, including the accident reconstruction. We'll be talking to the, all of the victims here, their families and we will have to make a decision about what we think is an appropriate sentence, But we have, uh, noticed the court that we intend to seek, uh, uh, potentially a greater sentence. You've been, you've been around a long time public defender's office. Now, the attorney is this the worst, one of the worst criminal homicide cases you've seen. How would you, how would you care? Yeah. One of the things I've noticed as Hennepin County attorney is how many criminal vehicular homicides we have, I don't, I mean, in terms of number of victims, this obviously is a lot with 11 victims. However, I've seen so many cases where in a split second, uh, somebody went through a red light. Um, they were drinking, they looked down something of that nature and in a second they changed their lives and they changed the lives of the person, uh, who was in the car, who was going about their business. These are some of the hardest cases we have, um, because they're completely unexpected, uh, families are grieving. Uh, often it's young people who are killed in these situations And so what I would say, I don't get into a car. If you're drinking or using substances, don't get into a car and drive in a second. You could kill someone. And some people, you know, may look at it as, what are the odds that I'm going to get caught? What I would ask people to think about is, uh, whether you get caught or not, how would you feel if you had to live the rest of your life with the fact that you took somebody's life and left their Children without a mother. Um, and their family without their loved one. That's what I would ask people to think about before they get into a car when they've been drinking or using any other kind of substances. Excuse me, I understand he was taken to Hennepin Health um where he was evaluated there. Yes, we are asking for $1 million bail. That would be, you said it should be tomorrow at 130 at the PSF where he'll make his first appearance. I have not. Thank you.