People who work at Park Tavern, a St. Louis Park institution for more than half a century, call the bowling alley and bar and grill a community hangout that’s one big family: a place for baby showers and class reunions, first dates and eventual wedding receptions.
Employee, hospital staffer killed after man crashes into crowded St. Louis Park bar patio
Officials have identified the driver, who also injured several others at Park Tavern on Sunday night.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 3, 2024 at 3:36AM
Kristina Folkerts was part of that family. Her mother worked there while pregnant with her. For the past two years, the bubbly 30-year-old now with three young daughters of her own and a megawatt smile worked there as a server, too.
She was working the packed outdoor seating area Sunday night when a driver sped from the parking lot and crashed into the patio, killing Folkerts and a patron — Gabe Harvey, an employee from nearby Methodist Hospital — while injuring several more.
“Look at all the flowers. This place is the children of the children of the children, third-generation families, coming in here for years, for decades,” Phil Weber, Park Tavern’s owner for 45 years, said Monday afternoon by a makeshift memorial on what remained of the patio fence. “Nobody can make any sense of this.”
Officials on Monday identified the driver, jailed the previous night, as Steven Frane Bailey, 56, of St. Louis Park. Police booked Bailey into the Hennepin County jail around 12:10 a.m. Monday on suspicion of two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash shortly after 8 p.m.
Bailey remains in custody without bail and pending charges that could come as soon as Tuesday.
At the scene of the tragedy, staffers and community members gathered on the Labor Day holiday with hugs, tears and disbelief. Methodist Hospital, part of the HealthPartners & Park Nicollet system, sent a grief counselor to help its employees.
A statement from HealthPartners confirmed an employee of Methodist Hospital — about a mile from Park Tavern — was the other fatality, while four nurses from the hospital are among the injured. An online fundraising campaign identified Harvey, who worked as a health unit coordinator while he was in nursing school.
“There was not a soul that Gabe met that he didn’t leave an impression on,” organizers wrote. “He always had a smile and a kind word for everyone.”
Similar fundraising sites identified Theo Larson and Teagan D’Albani as ICU nurses at Methodist. The group was celebrating their friend’s last nursing shift before she left for CRNA school. Larson suffered skull and facial fractures, and D’Albani extensive fractures and traumatic injuries, the sites said.
“We’re grieving the loss of a loved and respected colleague and friend to many here at Methodist Hospital and HealthPartners. Our thoughts are with our colleague’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time,” HealthPartners’ said. “Our focus in the days ahead will be in supporting our colleagues and the loved ones of those affected by this tragedy. The close relationships our colleagues have with each other is part of what makes Methodist a special place.”
As of Monday night, police have confirmed only three people were injured. Authorities are asking anyone who was hurt to contact them at 952-924-2165.
Park Tavern began an online fundraising campaign for Folkerts’ three children, which quickly raised tens of thousands of dollars. By late afternoon Monday, some Park Tavern staffers were heading to Lord Fletcher’s Old Lake Lodge on Lake Minnetonka, which shares a close relationship with Park Tavern. The owners of Lord Fletcher’s pledged to donate a portion of their Labor Day sales to Folkerts’ family.
As a crime-scene photographer from the Minnesota State Patrol snapped pictures of the crash site Monday, bleary-eyed staffers gathered just a few feet away. They alternated between shocked tears at the carnage, and laughter as they remembered Folkerts as a joyful presence, someone who loved going to restaurants and tearing through pull-tabs.
Zach Winslow was the on-site manager at Park Tavern on Sunday night when he heard a loud crash outside. Patio customers kept the driver inside the car until police arrived two minutes later, he said.
“I just grabbed as many towels as I could, just tried to keep the area clear of people who didn’t need to be here,” Winslow said.
Folkerts was pinned beneath the car, Winslow said, and about 10 police officers lifted the car off her.
Park Tavern’s bar manager, Christian Smith, said he had been working at Topgolf in Las Vegas when that venue became a refuge for victims in the immediate aftermath of the 2017 mass shooting there at a music festival. This tragedy triggered those memories, he said, but it also brought out Park Tavern’s beauty.
“Last night, even during the grief, I felt so much love here,” he said. “It was exactly what Park Tavern is about.”
Staffers and patrons described this place as like “Cheers” but 10 times the size.
“It’s the memories of your kids coming here after hockey games, of summer nights listening to music,” said Terri Lundquist, 68, of St. Louis Park, who has been a customer for nearly 40 years. “It’s the kind of place you chill and relax and you know people. Not a place you get plowed over.”
City spokeswoman Jacque Smith said Monday she is checking on whether Bailey was using drugs or alcohol or if some other factor contributed to the crash.
Minnesota court records show Bailey has at least two previous 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.
Park Tavern plans to hold a memorial and fundraiser for crash victims at a later date, the owner said. It will remain closed Tuesday before reopening Wednesday. Park Tavern also plans to plant a tree in memory of the crash victims.
Soon after the crash, a police statement said “surveillance footage shows the male driver entered the Park Tavern parking lot. He attempted to park, then drove into the outside patio.”
Terry Freeman, Park Tavern’s general manager and brother-in-law of the owner, said viewing the surveillance footage was traumatic. He couldn’t make sense of what the driver did, he said.
“It was out of a damn movie,” he said. “He went around a car then barreled right through. He ended up on that hill by the flowers.”
Staff writer Katie Galioto contributed to this story.
An earlier version of the story incorrectly reported Kristina Folkerts’ age. She was 30.
Ali Abas Samator has two drunken driving convictions, according to court records.
