St. Louis County attorney won't charge deputy who shot, injured fleeing ATV driver

DULUTH — The St. Louis County Attorney's Office has declined to charge a sheriff's deputy who shot and wounded an all-terrain vehicle driver fleeing officers last September in a decision made after a report from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

There is not sufficient evidence to create a likelihood of conviction, County Attorney Kimberly Maki said in a news release.

In the Sept. 28 shooting, deputy Jason Kuhnly wounded Jesse Ferrari after an early-morning chase in Duluth.

Ferrari was not critically injured.

After another deputy spotted Ferrari and a passenger driving without headlights on Commonwealth Avenue, the duo fled onto an ATV trail in the city's Smithville neighborhood. Kuhnly and a police dog, Ranger, joined a foot pursuit and eventually caught up with the vehicle and driver.

Kuhnly told investigators he tried to hit the ATV's kill switch, but Ferrari pinned his arm and he was dragged alongside the vehicle. Kuhnly said that after he ordered Ferrari to stop or he would shoot, he fired his weapon. The bullet reportedly hit Ferrari in the left flank, exited his back and lodged in a storage case on the ATV.

Ferrari, who fell off the vehicle, was treated for his injury and released into custody. He was charged with fleeing a police officer and driving with a revoked license.

It is standard practice for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to investigate police shootings. The bureau gave the final results to the St. Louis County Attorney's Office in March.

Kuhnly, Ferrari and the ATV passenger told conflicting stories about the confrontation, but Maki ruled the evidence showed an "objectively reasonable officer in Deputy Kuhnly's position could have believed there was a threat of death or great bodily harm."

Kuhnly was involved in two previous deadly force incidents — and cleared in each case. In January 2021, a carjacking suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an incident in Saginaw, Minn. In 2019, Kuhnly shot and killed a motorcyclist who had fled a traffic stop, shot at Kuhnly and was ultimately run over by another deputy.