HOW TO SUPPORT THOSE IMPACTED BY THE PARK TAVERN CRASH

On Sunday, September 1, a drunk driver crashed his car onto the patio of the Park Tavern restaurant and bowling alley in suburban St. Louis Park, killing two people and injuring several more, according to the Star Tribune. The incident has left the local community deeply shaken, as a memorial to the victims grows outside the restaurant.

Criminal charges were filed Tuesday, September 3, against Steven Frane Bailey, age 56, a resident of St. Louis Park, per the Star Tribune. Bailey reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.325 — more than four times the legal limit of 0.08 — at the time of the crash; he also had five prior drunken-driving convictions. His bail is set at $1 million.

The two victims of the crash are Kristina Marie Folkerts, age 30, a Park Tavern server, and Gabriel Quinn Harvey, age 30, a nursing school student who was dining on the patio at the time. At least nine others were injured, according to the Star Tribune; among those were four Methodist Hospital nurses, per a statement posted online.

Folkerts had lifelong ties to the Park Tavern: Her mother, Lauralee, was a server at the restaurant for decades, where she wore a distinctive pink uniform and was beloved among regulars, as chronicled in this Fox-9 profile from 2023. For Folkerts, the Tavern was a “second home” where she spent snow days and after-school evenings. After Lauralee died of ovarian cancer in 2008, Folkerts initially struggled to return to the restaurant, which held many memories of her mother. Eventually, she took a job as server there herself, working alongside many of her mother’s former coworkers. Folkerts was a mother of three young girls: The Park Tavern has launched a fundraiser to support her family.

Harvey had worked as a health unit coordinator in Methodist Hospital’s ICU since 2022, and was soon to graduate nursing school at the end of the year, according to a statement on the fundraiser paged launched to support his family. Harvey and his partner, Denzel, had recently bought a home together. He’s remembered as “kind, smart, and hilarious” — someone who “had a smile and a kind word for everyone.” Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to Denzel for funeral and living expenses.

Fundraisers have also been launched for Laura Knutsen, Tegan D’albani, and Theo Larson, Methodist Hospital nurses who were at the Park Tavern with Harvey. All have sustained “extensive injuries” that “will involve a long, and physically, emotionally, and mentally challenging recovery ahead,” according to their GoFundMe pages. Proceeds from the fundraisers will support their recoveries.

The Park Tavern announced via social media that it has reopened as of noon on September 4, asking for “patience and kindness” as it finds a path forward and thanking the community for the “overwhelming” support.

2024-09-04T19:00:00Z dg43tfdfdgfd