Lakeville Teen Charged in Connection with April Police Chase, Crash

A Lakeville teenager has been charged in connection with a that left his 18-year-old passenger seriously injured.

Jacob Todd Patton, 19, faces two felony charges of criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The crash seriously injured Patton’s passenger, John Donaldson, who suffered a large laceration to his scalp, multiple fractures to his legs, nose and ribs and internal injuries, according to the criminal complaint. 

Patton, who had a blood-alcohol content of .20 at the time of the crash, was also injured. Donaldson’s blood-alcohol content was .134; police found empty beer cans, and empty vodka bottle and an almost empty vodka bottle in the minivan after the crash, according to reports.

The complaint says were called to 199th Street and Jaguar Avenue just after 10 p.m. on April 10 after a resident complained about a minivan speeding through the neighborhood.

The resident, “visibly upset and shaken,” provided police with the van’s description and license number, and said the van had been driving erratically and dangerously through the neighborhood.

As the officer spoke to the resident, a van matching the description approached them on 199th Street. The resident said, “That’s them!”

The officer activated a spotlight to check the license number and alert the driver, then tried to maneuver his squad car to block the van’s path. When the officer activated his emergency lights, Patton made an “evasive maneuver,” going around the squad car by driving onto the curb and the grass to get past.

As soon as the van had passed the squad car, Patton drove north onto Jaguar Avenue and accelerated, according to the complaint. The officer began pursuing the van; Patton ran a stop sign at Jaguar Avenue and County Road 50, then made a left turn onto Kenwood Trail.

The pursuit continued at speeds approaching 95 mph, and the officer saw Patton take evasive action to avoid rear-ending a car in front of it. That caused the van to fishtail, and Patton eventually lost control in the front yard of a home on Kenwood Trail.

The van hit a tree in the home’s front yard with such force that it threw the vehicle’s engine five feet across the lawn. The van came to rest on its roof, with the passenger side door and roof lodged against the tree; firefighters had to extricate Patton and Donaldson, who were both unconscious when the officer ran up to the van.

Police subsequently interviewed Donaldson, who admitted that he and Patton had been drinking. He said he told Patton “three or four times” to stop while they were being chased, telling him that he couldn’t “outrun the police, so pull over.”

Donaldson said he put on his seat belt when Patton refused to stop, and that was the last thing he remembered. He said he didn’t know why Patton wouldn’t pull over.

Patton is scheduled to make an initial appearance on the charges Nov. 21 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.