Left: Steven Bailey. Right: A video showing Bailey crashing into a crowded Minnesota bar (KMSP via Pool).
The first words a drunk driver uttered to police after crashing into a Minnesota bar last year, resulting in the deaths of two people and injuries to a dozen others, were “I’m f—” and “I’m probably going to jail.”
Steven Frane Bailey’s prediction proved accurate. On Monday, a judge sentenced the 57-year-old grandfather to a 30-year prison term. In May, he pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder and three counts of criminal vehicular operation causing great bodily harm. The tragic incident on September 1, 2024, claimed the lives of Kristina Marie Folkerts and Gabriel Quinn Harvey, both aged 30, at Park Tavern in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park.
Family members of Folkerts and Harvey spoke at Monday’s plea hearing about the impact the loss of their loved ones has had on them.
“I will never heal,” Folkerts’ mother expressed in a statement delivered by a victim advocate. “I will never be the same. I describe it to others as feeling like a shell of a person, trying to do what I believe I’m supposed to do while feeling empty inside.”
Victims who survived the incident also testified. Tegan D’Albani spent some 40 days in the hospital after she was struck by Bailey’s BMW X5.
“I remember seeing the car come,” she said. “It happened so quickly that there was no time to respond. I remember laying on the ground and looking at my legs. They were broken and backwards.”
She suffered a broken knee, femur and pelvis, all of which required multiple surgeries. Her recovery process is ongoing and “there’s no end in sight,” she said.
Prosecutors also presented video of the crash. It showed the BMW in the parking lot where he hit a parked vehicle, cops wrote. In an “attempted to flee the scene,” Bailey sped through the parking lot, striking an SUV. He “continued to accelerate straight toward the patio.”
“After hitting the Black SUV, defendant accelerates straight past a two-lane drive in the parking lot and 11 parking spaces before plowing his vehicle through a metal fence and into the patio seating area,” detectives wrote in a criminal complaint.
Left: Kristina Folkerts. Right: Gabe Harvey (GoFundMe).
Bailey hit “multiple” people and occupied tables, not braking for the full length of the patio. He didn’t slow down until coming to an “abrupt” stop after hitting two boulders at the base of a steep incline, cops said.
Officers arrived on scene to find several broken tables and chairs, debris and numerous victims, including Folkerts, who was trapped under the car. Since the BMW was inoperable, cops lifted the car to get her out, but paramedics pronounced her dead. First responders rushed Harvey to the hospital, where doctors also pronounced him dead.
According to the affidavit, Bailey stumbled out of the car and fell to the ground. Officers heard him say “I’m f—ed” and “I’m probably going to jail.” He also reportedly claimed he meant to hit the brake but hit the gas instead. Bailey’s speech was slurred and his eyes were watery, cops noted. When officers told him they were going to conduct field sobriety tests, he allegedly said, “You don’t need to do fields, I know what I did.”
He had a .325 blood alcohol content level — over four times the legal limit of 0.08, the affidavit said. Cops took him to the Hennepin County Jail and informed him he’d be facing vehicular manslaughter charges. Bailey allegedly responded, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” and “My life’s pretty much f—ed now, isn’t it?”
Those who survived suffered major injuries such as broken legs, pelvis, ribs and dislocated knees, while others had minor cuts and bruises.
There’s been an outpouring of support from the community since the incident. A GoFundMe started for Folkerts has raised over $230,000. The mother of three was a Tavern employee who loved her family, an obituary stated.
“She was ambitious, a hard worker who greatly loved her Park Tavern family and was a photographer. She also loved music, attending concerts and her Starbucks. Kristina was very passionate about her photography, knew what she wanted and was a visionary in a lot of subjects. She was free spirited and found the beauty in everyone,” the obituary said.
Inset: Steven Bailey (Hennepin County Jail). Background: Park Tavern after crash that killed two people (KSTP/YouTube).
Harvey worked in the ICU at Methodist Hospital as a health unit coordinator and was out enjoying a night with co-workers when the incident happened, a GoFundMe said. He was set to graduate from nursing school.
“Gabe and his partner, Denzel, recently became new homeowners and were in the process of making the house their home. There was not a soul that Gabe met that he did not leave an impression on, he always had a smile and a kind word for everyone,” the fundraiser said. “His ability to include everyone and make them feel seen and appreciated is unmatched.”
Before the sentencing, District Judge Juan Hoyos said there was nothing he could say to ease anyone’s pain.
“What I’ve heard today described by the victims, the damage that was caused, the pain that was caused, the loss of life, it’s just unimaginable,” he said. “I’ve never heard anything like that in a courtroom and that pain and that loss is just gonna remain forever.”
