Continued: Teen was going 80 in chase that led to woman's death

A 15-year-old suspected car thief accused of slamming into and killing a young mother while fleeing Minneapolis police at speeds up to 80 miles per hour was charged Tuesday with six felony counts, including vehicular homicide.

One day after 26-year-old Hanna Abukar was buried in Burnsville, charges were leveled against the teen, whose stolen vehicle broadsided hers early Sunday on a major city thoroughfare.

They include two counts each of criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation, both felonies; one felony count of fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle resulting in death, and one felony count of fleeing an officer resulting in injury. He also faces two counts of criminal vehicular operation, a gross misdemeanor.

Prosecutors with the Hennepin County attorney's office, who filed the charges, also are pursuing adult certification for the teenager, whose name they have not released.

On Tuesday night, the boy's mother said that he made a serious mistake but that he's no killer.

"I know that family's hurting, but we are, too," she said as she stood at the door of her south Minneapolis apartment. "My son is not a monster. I just want to be left alone."

She declined to speak further with the Star Tribune.

Charges follow an investigation into the pursuit, during which the teenager, who allegedly had been fleeing officers at speeds of up to 80 mph in a stolen vehicle, crashed into a car driven by Abukar at Lake Street and Stevens Avenue S. around 8 a.m. Sunday. Just before the crash, the pursuit had been called off because of safety concerns.

Abukar, a married mother of two, was driving her son and a friend to Sunday school at a mosque. The boys remain hospitalized.

According to the complaint, officers tried to stop the car the teenager was driving when he allegedly ran a stop sign. He sped away from officers after they turned on their emergency lights, speeding down busy streets while ignoring red lights along East Lake St.

A police supervisor called off the 12-block chase for public safety reasons about a half-mile before the crash. The boy ran from the crash scene but was caught at a nearby Kmart.

After his arrest, the boy told investigators that he fled police after seeing the police cars behind him with their lights on and hearing the sirens.

The three veteran police officers involved in the chase -- Thomas Mack, Jonathan Petron and Eric Shogren -- are on standard administrative leave.

Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer said Tuesday that reports from the case don't make it clear whether the teenager knew the chase had been called off when he continued driving at high speeds before crashing into Abukar's vehicle.

Department protocol calls for officers to turn off their lights and sirens and to pull over or turn off the route when a chase is called off. While the officers' actions remain under internal investigation, it is believed they acted properly, Palmer said.

"It's my understanding that they did, but it's not confirmed," he said. "That's part of what the investigation will do. Obviously there is videotape from the cameras in all the cars."

Palmer said the department's criminal investigation into the case against the teenager is considered complete now that charges have been filed. An internal investigation regarding the three officers continues, he said, adding that he isn't sure when it will be completed.

The stolen car, a 1991 Buick LeSabre, belonged to Emma Stewart, said her daughter, Sheila Stewart. The car, locked and with no keys in the ignition, was taken outside their south Minneapolis home between 9 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 a.m. Sunday, when they called police to report it missing, the daughter said.

They didn't know it was involved in the fatal accident until Sunday night, she said. "It's been a bizarre time, and we hate that a life was lost," Sheila Stewart said. "We offer the family our condolences."

asimons@startribune.com • 612-673-4921 pwalsh@startribune.com • 612-673-4482 Staff writer Terry Collins contributed to this report.