A man has received a prison sentence topping 12 years for crashing an SUV into a car in St. Paul while fleeing police, resulting in serious injuries to three people in a bystander vehicle.
Ryan J. Amabile, 34, of St. Paul, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty to illegally possessing a firearm and illicit drugs in connection with the crash on Nov. 25, 2022, that started in Woodbury and culminated in the collision in St. Paul.
He also pleaded guilty earlier in Ramsey County District Court to criminal vehicular operation stemming from the collision. The federal sentence provides what is known as a “global resolution” to the case.
Since 2010, Amabile has accumulated convictions for more than a dozen felonies along with many other offenses in Minnesota. They include: three for fleeing law enforcement, six for driving without a license, two for drunken driving, three for credit card fraud, five for theft and three for various types of assault.
At the time of the crash, Amabile did not have a valid Minnesota driver’s license, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Amabile was released from prison 1½ months before the collision after serving roughly 2½ years for a series of crimes in September 2019 that started with him fleeing Albert Lea police, who suspected he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol and also involved in an attempted carjacking just across the border in Iowa.
Prosecutors argued in a court filing ahead of Tuesday’s sentencing that “the seriousness of his latest offense … offers a chilling reminder of the harm that can easily result from the possession of firearms by felons who have previously had multiple chances at rehabilitation, but have failed to utilize those chances, and instead fall into a pattern of acquiring more guns or drugs or committing additional crimes.”
Amabile’s defense attorney requested a nine-year prison term, pointing out that his client was neglected by his parents and exposed to abusive behavior.
“Mr. Amabile’s entire life has been marked by instability and lack of support,” attorney F. Clayton Tyler wrote. “It appears that his mental health needs have been severely underappreciated and undertreated.”
According to the charges filed in Ramsey County:
Police in Woodbury spotted an SUV that had eluded the State Patrol the previous evening. The SUV headed west on Interstate 94 at speeds between 90 and 105 miles per hour as police pursued with lights and sirens activated. The SUV exited at White Bear Avenue in St. Paul and briefly traveled in the wrong lane, prompting Woodbury police to abandon the pursuit.
Amabile soon crashed the SUV into a car at White Bear and Minnehaha avenues. One of two young teenagers being driven in the car to play soccer suffered numerous major injuries. Federal prosecutors say the teen has had to give up playing soccer. The other young teen in the car suffered a broken leg and a facial fracture.
Amabile ran from the SUV holding a handgun. Officers used nonlethal ammunition to knock the gun from his hand, and he was quickly arrested.
A police search of the SUV turned up a handgun magazine with 10 rounds, a bag of psilocybin mushrooms and nearly three-fourths of a pound of methamphetamine.