A Minnesota state trooper acquired 9 prices of second-degree manslaughter and felony vehicular murder this week for the crash demise of a teen. His checkered previous of inflicting wrecks whereas on-duty left many locally questioning why it took a tragic demise to get this officer off the street.
Minnesota State Trooper Shane Roper killed 18-year-old Olivia Flores on Might 18, 2023 when his squad automotive T-boned the automotive Flores was driving in. Roper was in pursuit of a automobile for a suspected petty site visitors violation when he struck Flores at 83 miles per hour with out emergency lights or sirens.
This habits was nothing new for Roper. Simply over a 12 months earlier than killing Flores, the trooper was concerned in one other crash. In truth, he’d made driving dangerously a behavior, receiving disciplinary actions over reckless driving 4 occasions in eight years, the Star Tribune reviews:
On April 10, 2023, simply over a 12 months earlier than the deadly crash, Roper was on patrol alongside a busy stretch of Hwy. 52 in Rochester when he noticed a driver suspected of dashing. Roper accelerated to greater than 90 miles per hour earlier than slicing throughout all lanes of the freeway to observe the automotive onto an off-ramp. He misplaced management of the squad automotive, left the roadway and crashed right into a cable median barrier.
Investigators later decided Roper did not activate his emergency alerts to inform different drivers, a violation of State Patrol coverage. He was suspended for at some point with out pay for his actions.
“Troopers are anticipated to function division autos with exemplary driving habits,” the incident criticism reads. “Trooper Roper’s extreme velocity inhibited the power to soundly exit the freeway.”
The 2023 incident had been the newest in a collection of reckless driving choices on Roper’s half.
In February 2019, Roper was issued a written reprimand for reckless driving after his squad automotive collided with one other state automobile, inflicting important injury to each autos and injuring the opposite driver.
Then in Might 2021, Roper was cited for putting one other driver together with his automobile after going via a cease signal with out his emergency alerts on. Roper claimed to not have seen the cease signal, regardless of the very fact a “cease forward” signal was posted 400 toes earlier than the intersection. He was suspended for at some point with out pay.
Later that very same 12 months, Roper broken his squad automotive by colliding with a deer, leading to one other written reprimand. The report says Roper was responding to an order for defense when he accelerated his automobile to 77 mph whereas touring on snow-packed roads. He was cited for not notifying dispatch of the decision and failing to activate his lights or sirens.
The identical day Roper killed Flores, he was displaying off for a “ride-along” by hitting speeds of 135 mph with no emergency motive to take action. Together with felony prices, Roper and the state police are dealing with a wrongful demise swimsuit from Flores household, the Tribune reviews. They wish to know why this menace was allowed to stay on the pressure; an excellent query.
We’ve stated it earlier than, and we’ll say it once more (and once more): finish all site visitors stops.
