A Lino Lakes police officer was killed late Tuesday afternoon when a suspect driving a stolen vehicle and fleeing police crashed into him beside Interstate Hwy. 35W in Lino Lakes.

Officer Shawn Silvera, 32, was placing stop sticks -- tire deflators -- on the freeway's southbound lanes, north of the Anoka County Road 23 exit, when a vehicle driven by Steven Stenke, 26, swerved and hit him, said County Sheriff Bruce Andersohn.

Silvera was standing near his squad in the median and was thrown "quite a distance" into the ditch of the northbound lanes, the sheriff said.

The suspect, Stenke, then swerved into the northbound lanes and hit a van driven by a Wisconsin man, who was injured but is expected to survive, Andersohn said.

Investigators said they didn't know whether Stenke deliberately swerved to hit Silvera while trying to avoid the stop sticks.

Witness talks with investigators.
Jeff Wheeler
Star Tribune
"There's a fine balance to be had when it comes to pursuit. You have the public interest. You have the interest of law enforcement. You have the interest of public safety. You try to balance these interests against the severity of what you're pursuing someone for," he said.

"When you have circumstances like this, it's never easy to justify a pursuit. And thankfully, very few end this way. But when they do, the tragedy is something we all have to pause with and take a hard look at whether we're doing the right thing for the right reasons."

'You know it's bad'
Wendy Brown, whose back yard faces the freeway, said, "I just heard this big crash and then I came out and saw a mass of lights ... a couple of guys lying on the freeway."

Three helicopters that appeared to be from North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, landed on the freeway, she said.

Emergency workers "were running one guy over to a helicopter and then they just stopped and put a sheet over him."
A second person was lying in the median, bleeding badly from an armpit, Brown said. He appeared to be moving his toe. He was flown away in a helicopter.

A third man was lying in the northbound lane and appeared to be bleeding in the hip area, she said. He was put into an ambulance and it pulled away with its lights and sirens going. All of a sudden, the ambulance turned off its lights and siren and continued on its way, she said.

"There have been accidents [around here], but not helicopters landing on the freeway," she said. "You know it's bad."


This part was not in the news...


The chase started at 5:06 p.m. when Chisago County sheriff's deputies spotted a car that had been reported stolen in South Dakota. Stenke, who officials say was driving the car, is wanted in South Dakota on a felony assault warrant and is being investigated in connection with a home invasion. Stenke's father lives in Chisago County.


RIP Brother.

"There's a fine balance to be had when it comes to pursuit. You have the public interest. You have the interest of law enforcement. You have the interest of public safety. You try to balance these interests against the severity of what you're pursuing someone for," he said. "When you have circumstances like this, it's never easy to justify a pursuit. And thankfully, very few end this way. But when they do, the tragedy is something we all have to pause with and take a hard look at whether we're doing the right thing for the right reasons."

Who TF issued this quote... please tell me it wasn't the Sheriff playing CYA.

IIRC, "public interest" is getting criminals off the street... that's why local governments establish LE agencies. "LE interest" is pursuing that goal as asafely as possible. "Public safety" is bagging the BG w/o deploying high yield munitions in a carpet bombing strike incidental casualties.

The chase started at 5:06 p.m. when Chisago County sheriff's deputies spotted a car that had been reported stolen in South Dakota. Stenke, who officials say was driving the car, is wanted in South Dakota on a felony assault warrant and is being investigated in connection with a home invasion.

This sounds a lot more worthy of a pursuit than, say, a broken tailight, or other such PC's that have resulted in fatalities..

RIP Brother.

Indeed.

That fuckin sucks.

RIP brother.

RIP brother

Sad    R.I.P.

The funeral arrangements have been set. All services will be held at Epiphany Church. It is south of Hwy 10 on Hanson Blvd in Coon Rapids.

The wake is on Sunday September 11th from 1600-1900.
The funeral is on Monday September 12th at 1500 hours.

Shawn will be buried on the church grounds of Epiphany church.

Live webcast of the funeral currently on at www.wcco.com, top of the page.  (If you'd like to pay respects from afar)

Quoted: That fuckin sucks. RIP brother.

DITTO that.