St. Paul Police: Driver In High-Speed Chase, Crash Arrested
ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- The driver who led St. Paul police officers on a high-speed chase, which resulted in a crash that injured an innocent motorist Thursday, has turned himself in, according to police.
Rayvell Deprie Carter, 32, of St. Paul is now being held in the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center on suspicion of felony fleeing police in a motor vehicle and felony possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell. He turned himself in to St. Paul police officers at 10:45 a.m., police said.
Police said the initial incident started Thursday afternoon after an undercover drug buy outside a business at Maryland and Rice in St. Paul.
Police arrested two people right away but two others, including Carter, took off in a car. Both 34-year-old Amon Manning and 25-year-old Timothy Smith were taken in on drug-related offenses, but have not been formally charged.
The men who fled in the car headed south on Rice Street at high speeds and crashed into a van.
That van was pushed across a lane of traffic, over a sidewalk, and through a fence.
According to police, the pursuing squads lost sight of Carter's car several blocks after the pursuit began and did not witness the crash.
The driver of the van, Thomas Richard Blanck, 65, of Prescott, Wis. was taken to the hospital, but is expected to be OK. He was released from the hospital late Thursday afternoon, authorities said.
Police said investigators originally believed Carter was a passenger in the car that slammed into Blanck's mini-van. After the crash, police arrested Carter at the scene and medics took him to Regions Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. He was not formally booked at that time.
St. Paul Police Crash Reconstruction Officers continue to investigate the crash.
