A restaurant worker, mother of three, and a nurse have been identified as the two people who were tragically killed Sunday night when a driver crashed his vehicle into a restaurant’s outdoor patio.
Kristina Folkerts, 30, was working the crowded outdoor seating area at Park Tavern in St. Louis Park, Missouri, around 8 p.m. when a driver, who has since been identified as Steven Frane Bailey, 56, accelerated his car into the crowd.
Folkerts, who had followed in her mother’s footsteps as a waitress at Park Tavern and had recently begun a relationship with a co-worker, was trapped beneath the vehicle. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
It took nearly 10 officers to lift the car off of her, according to Zach Winslow, who was working as a manager at the location that night.
Also killed in the crash was Gabe Harvey, an ICU nurse at nearby Methodist Hospital who was celebrating a co-worker leaving her nursing job after seven years to go to CRNA school. according to an online fundraiser.
Kristina Folkerts, 30, and Gabe Harvey, an intensive care nurse at nearby Methodist Hospital, were killed when a driver crashed into the outdoor patio of Park Tavern in St. Louis Park on Sunday night.
Police said Bailey was caught on surveillance footage pulling into the parking lot, but not entering the restaurant.
He was then seen attempting to park, but instead sped off into the courtyard, where generations of residents have held baby showers, class reunions and even wedding receptions.
“It was like something out of a fucking movie,” said Terry Freeman, Park Tavern’s general manager and the owner’s brother-in-law.
“He circled around a car and then pounced on it. He ended up on that hill by the flowers.”
Customers kept the driver inside his vehicle until police arrived at the scene about two minutes later, Winslow told the Star Tribune.
Bailey was then booked into the Hennepin County Jail around 12:10 a.m. Monday on suspicion of two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
Steven Frane Bailey, 56, was booked into the Hennepin County Jail around 12:10 a.m. Monday on suspicion of two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.
He remained held without bail throughout the Labor Day holiday awaiting charges that could be filed as early as Tuesday as city officials work to determine whether drugs or alcohol may have contributed to the crash.
Minnesota court records obtained by the Star Tribune show Bailey has at least two prior drunken driving convictions: fourth-degree DWI, a misdemeanor in Waseca County in 2014, and third-degree DWI, a gross misdemeanor in Hennepin County in 2015.
As the investigation into the fatal crash continues, community members are gathering around the restaurant and hospital to show their support.
Park Tavern has been described as something like the bar on the TV show Cheers, but 10 times bigger.
Police said Bailey was caught on surveillance footage pulling into the parking lot and speeding toward the outdoor patio around 8 p.m.
It is unclear whether Bailey was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.
Folkerts even grew up at the restaurant, where her mother, Lauralee, worked as a waitress for decades before dying in 2008 from ovarian cancer when she was just 14. according to FOX 9.
Some waiters even babysat her as a child, and Park Tavern employees offered to help her through the loss of her mother.
She now leaves behind three daughters of her own, ages one to seven, for whom the Tavern is raising funds to support. As of Monday evening, the online fundraiser had raised more than $63,000 for the family.
“Kristina was just one of the family. And her mother worked for us, too,” said owner Phil Weber. he told CBS News.
“We’ve been here for so long and we’ve had quite a few people die, but not like this,” he said.
“And this is, you know, horrible. Nobody can believe that this is what happened.”
Many had considered the restaurant a safe place to hang out.
“It’s memories of your kids coming here after hockey games, summer nights listening to music,” said Terri Lundquist, 68, a customer for nearly 40 years.
“It’s the kind of place where you relax and meet people. Not a place where you get run over.”
The restaurant was also a favorite hangout for Methodist Hospital employees; Weber told CBS News, “They’ve been amazing customers,” and described how the tavern hosted retirement parties once a week.
But the final celebration turned to tragedy when Harvey was killed.
He had worked at the hospital for years and was the ICU unit coordinator.
“He worked hard to become an ICU nurse and he’s one of the best at it,” Dr. Thomas Stark told Fox 9.
“He’s a great human being, very kind, fantastic with patients and fantastic with their families,” Stark said. adding to KSTP that Harvey “kept things moving in the ICU.”
An online fundraiser to help his partner Denzel with funeral expenses and support also said: ‘There wasn’t a soul Gabe met that didn’t leave an impression on him.
“He always had a smile and a kind word for everyone.”
Other fundraisers were also organised for the nurses who were injured in Sunday night’s accident, including one who was celebrating her last day.
That nurse, Laura Knutsen, suffered “extensive fractures and numerous traumatic injuries,” one of the Online fundraisers saylike her friend Tegan D’Albani.
Meanwhile, a fourth ICU nurse, Theo Larsen, was admitted to North Memorial’s neurological ICU with multiple skull fractures, facial fractures and orbital fractures. fundraiser for his medical expenses says.
“We mourn the loss of a beloved and respected colleague and friend to many here at Methodist Hospital and HealthPartners,” a hospital spokesperson said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of our colleague during this incredibly difficult time.
“Our focus in the coming days will be supporting our colleagues and the loved ones of those affected by this tragedy,” the spokesperson continued.
‘The close relationships our colleagues have with each other are part of what makes Methodist a special place.’
Park Tavern will also remain closed on Tuesday to “support and care for our staff and neighbors.”
A memorial and fundraising event for the victims of the accident will be held afterwards, and Weber also plans to plant a tree in memory of the victims.
“We will get through this and continue doing what we are doing,” he said. “We have no other choice.”
