13-year sentence for unlicensed driver who fatally hit motorist while fleeing police in Oakdale

A 36-year-old man has received a 13-year term for fatally hitting another motorist while he fled in a stolen SUV from police in Oakdale.

Scott David Hardy, of Wadena, Minn., was sentenced Friday in Washington County District Court after pleading guilty to fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle resulting in death in connection with the crash that killed 80-year-old Shirley J. Bilden, of Maplewood on July 10, 2021.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Hardy is expected to serve the first 6½ years of his term in prison and the balance on supervised release.

“The reckless actions of Mr. Hardy that day led to devastating consequences, and justice demands accountability,” County Attorney Kevin Magnuson said in a statement.

Hardy was driving at the time of the crash after his license had been revoked. Court records show that Hardy has been convicted twice for driving after license revocation and once for not having car insurance.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police went to the Cub Foods on 10th Street N. off Interstate 694 late in the afternoon concerning a stolen SUV in the parking lot.

Officers told Hardy to turn off the engine and put his hands outside the window. Instead he sped away, with two passengers in the vehicle, at speeds approaching 70 miles per hour in residential neighborhoods and at times through yards.

Shortly after officers called off the pursuit for safety reasons, they saw a large plume of smoke in the distance. Officers went to the scene and determined Hardy had run a red light at Geneva Avenue and 10th Street, striking Bilden’s car about 1¼ miles west of the grocery store.

Hardy ran from the wreckage and tried to steal a woman’s car at nearby Union Cemetery, where the woman and her children were at a gravesite. He was restrained by witnesses until police arrested him.

A man and a woman in Hardy’s car were treated at a hospital for their injuries. The female passenger, fading in and out of consciousness at the scene, said at one point, “I can’t believe he left me here to die.”

Bilden died four days later at Regions Hospital.