A Minnesota state trooper received nine charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide this week for the crash death of a teen. His checkered past of causing wrecks while on-duty left many in the community wondering why it took a tragic death to get this officer off the road.
Minnesota State Trooper Shane Roper killed 18-year-old Olivia Flores on May 18, 2023 when his squad car T-boned the car Flores was riding in. Roper was in pursuit of a vehicle for a suspected petty traffic violation when he struck Flores at 83 miles per hour without emergency lights or sirens.
This behavior was nothing new for Roper. Just over a year before killing Flores, the trooper was involved in another crash. In fact, he’d made driving dangerously a habit, receiving disciplinary actions over reckless driving four times in eight years, the Star Tribune reports:
On April 10, 2023, just over a year before the fatal crash, Roper was on patrol along a busy stretch of Hwy. 52 in Rochester when he spotted a driver suspected of speeding. Roper accelerated to more than 90 miles per hour before cutting across all lanes of the highway to follow the car onto an off-ramp. He lost control of the squad car, left the roadway and crashed into a cable median barrier.
Investigators later determined Roper failed to activate his emergency signals to notify other drivers, a violation of State Patrol policy. He was suspended for one day without pay for his actions.
“Troopers are expected to operate department vehicles with exemplary driving behavior,” the incident complaint reads. “Trooper Roper’s excessive speed inhibited the ability to safely exit the highway.”
The 2023 incident had been the latest in a series of reckless driving decisions on Roper’s part.
In February 2019, Roper was issued a written reprimand for reckless driving after his squad car collided with another state vehicle, causing significant damage to both vehicles and injuring the other driver.
Then in May 2021, Roper was cited for striking another driver with his vehicle after going through a stop sign without his emergency signals on. Roper claimed not to have seen the stop sign, despite the fact a “stop ahead” sign was posted 400 feet before the intersection. He was suspended for one day without pay.
Later that same year, Roper damaged his squad car by colliding with a deer, resulting in another written reprimand. The report says Roper was responding to an order for protection when he accelerated his vehicle to 77 mph while traveling on snow-packed roads. He was cited for not notifying dispatch of the call and failing to turn on his lights or sirens.
The same day Roper killed Flores, he was showing off for a “ride-along” by hitting speeds of 135 mph with no emergency reason to do so. Along with criminal charges, Roper and the state police are facing a wrongful death suit from Flores family, the Tribune reports. They want to know why this menace was allowed to remain on the force; a very good question.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again (and again): end all traffic stops.
