Prison for carjacker who veered onto Lake St. sidewalk hit sister, brother

A repeat felon who ran over and badly injured a young brother and sister last fall on a Lake Street sidewalk while they were out for ice cream was sentenced Thursday to a nearly six-year term.

Steven D. Ross, 49, of St. Paul, was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty in July to two counts of criminal vehicular operation and one count of robbery in connection with him crashing a vehicle he carjacked while high on drugs.

With time in jail since his arrest, Ross will serve roughly 3¼ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

The collision on Sept. 30, 2019, sent Cecilia and Jacob Speranzella flying in the air before the car hit a window frame of the Panaderia San Miguel bakery at E. Lake Street and S. 17th Avenue.

Cecilia, now 20 years old, struck the bakery window. Jacob went through the glass. She suffered a brain injury that required surgery. Jacob, now 15, suffered several broken bones and cuts.

After striking the bakery, the car went on to hit another vehicle and ram a police squad car before crashing into a streetlight and bursting into flames.

Cecelia and Jacob's father, Joe Speranzella, said he was disappointed that Ross didn't get a longer sentence, but "this man needs help. We don't want him to sit in prison and rot. We want him to improve himself."

Cecelia has some lingering short-term memory problems, but otherwise is back at work full time at a coffee shop and attending online classes at Arizona State University while majoring in criminal justice, her father said.

Jacob is in 10th grade and fully recovered from a broken ankle and compressed discs in his back, Joe Speranzella said.

In her victim impact statement to the court, Cecelia recalled that "on that day, the last 80-degree day of the season, I wanted to spend my day off with Jacob and treat him to some ice cream. … I remember laughing with him on the way there. The last thing I remember after that is the feeling of panic, like the feeling of slipping on ice."

In the time since, in conversations with her brother, "all that I have been able to get out of him is the fact that he remembers nearly everything. He has recalled spinning in the air. After telling me that, he followed it up with, 'and that's when I realized I lost you.' "

According to the charges, Ross said he had used crack cocaine and marijuana and was drinking alcohol that day. His license was revoked at the time of the crash.

Judge Marta Chou handed Ross a stayed 19-month prison sentence for both convictions.

Ross also was convicted of felony assault in 2014 for beating another man in St. Paul after the two left a bar. A prison term of five years was stayed in that case. Instead, he served three days in the workhouse and was put on probation.