Driver in crash that killed two on Park Tavern patio granted conditional release from jail

Steven Frane Bailey, the man accused of killing two people and injuring nine others after driving drunk and crashing into the Park Tavern patio in St. Louis Park, will be granted conditional release from the Hennepin County jail while his case moves through the courts.

At an omnibus hearing Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court, Bailey, in black-rimmed glasses and an orange jumpsuit, appeared alongside his attorney, Thomas Sieben. Bailey glanced occasionally at the gallery where his family sat alongside friends and family of the victims while the conditions of his release were discussed.

Judge Juan Hoyos agreed to allow Bailey, who has already posted bond on $500,000 bail, to be released on Oct. 14 to a sober living facility. Hoyos ordered that Bailey be placed on home monitoring, including remote electronic alcohol monitoring, and only be allowed to leave the facility to attend meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

The court recently received a chemical dependency evaluation report on Bailey. At his first bail hearing in September, Bailey denied “any problematic use of drugs or alcohol” during an evaluation. The results of Bailey’s chemical dependency evaluation were not discussed in court, but Hoyos said Bailey had met the conditions for his release to a treatment facility.

“I am fine with a bed-to-bed transfer given that bail has been posted and all the other conditions I posted will remain,” Hoyos said. He added that Bailey would not be granted work release.

Sieben had no comment on Bailey’s pending release and declined to share details of what treatment facility he will be attending.

Bailey is facing 13 criminal charges related to the crash that killed Park Tavern employee Kristina Folkerts, 30, of St. Louis Park, and customer Gabriel Quinn Harvey, 30, of Rosemount.

Folkerts, a mother of three, was a server at the restaurant where her mother had also worked. Harvey, a health unit coordinator at nearby Methodist Hospital and a nursing school student, was there with others celebrating a colleague’s departure.

Bailey, 56, is charged with two counts of third-degree murder, two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and nine counts of criminal vehicular operation.

In a news release announcing the charges, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the language of the third-degree murder charge, committing an act “eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life,” matched the crime.

According to court documents:

Surveillance video showed Bailey driving a BMW SUV into the Park Tavern parking lot, which was close to capacity just after 8 p.m. Sept. 2, during Labor Day weekend.

Several people were walking through the parking lot, and Bailey would have been able to clearly see the people seated on the patio while driving through the lot. Bailey drove past a parking spot, seemed to notice it and then reversed. He reversed too far, hit a parked car behind him and then accelerated “in what appears to be an attempt to flee the scene.”

Bailey swerved to avoid another SUV driving near him but crashed into the rear driver’s side of that car. He continued to accelerate and crashed “through a metal fence and into the patio seating” at Park Tavern.

After the crash, police administered a preliminary breath test at Hennepin County Medical Center. Bailey’s blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.325%, four times the legal limit in Minnesota of 0.08%. Court documents show Bailey has five previous convictions for drunken driving. At the time of the Park Tavern crash, Bailey had a valid Minnesota driver’s license.

His next court date is set for Dec. 10.