Gang member who caused horrific injuries in police chase gets 13 years

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: July 10, 2009 - 11:44 PM

A gang member whose high-speed flight from St. Paul police left a young couple maimed has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for crack cocaine trafficking.

Known Selby Siders Gang member Wendell R. Jones, 21, of St. Paul, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis, after pleading guilty in January.

"Mr. Jones was dealing in significant quantities of crack cocaine," said U.S. Attorney Frank J. Magill. "Mr. Jones also made the reprehensible choice of fleeing and causing a high-speed chase, thereby putting the lives of police officers and the general public in danger.

"He put countless people at risk and, as a result of his actions, caused horrific injuries to the innocent bystanders in this case. Because of this, [Thursday's] sentence is most appropriate."

According to court documents:

Police had set up a drug buying sting for Jones. When officers attempted to arrest him, he fled in his Dodge Charger, striking a police car.

During his flight, Jones reached speeds topping 100 miles per hour, threw crack cocaine out the window, hit another vehicle and lost control of his car, striking yet another vehicle.

Two bystanders standing between a number of parked cars, including one that Jones' vehicle struck, were injured so severely that each had to have a leg amputated.

The victims were Mari Plaster and her boyfriend, Daniel Sanford, 22.

Both were at a 21st-birthday celebration for Plaster that night with about a dozen friends and family members at Schroeder's Bar and Grill near Como Avenue and Dale Street. They were hit as they were trying to put birthday gifts in the trunk.

Schroeder's server Roy Schultz said the crash "looked like a bomb went off. Four cars were totaled and spread all over the street."

Police said the chase lasted less than three minutes and ended before officers could consider whether to break off their pursuit.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

Recent Local + Metro stories

Losing trees but saving 'hoot' habitat - July 10, 2009

Losing trees but saving 'hoot' habitat - Trees and owls must make way for a new natural gas pipeline that parallels one that crosses the Lake Rebecca Park Reserve. More