Driver who killed 2, injured 12 in Park Tavern patio crash gets 30 years in prison
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Steven Frane Bailey was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for driving drunk into the patio of the Park Tavern last September, killing two people and injuring 12 others.
According to court documents, Bailey, 57, drove from the parking lot into the patio of the St. Louis Park restaurant, hitting several tables filled with people before his car hit a boulder on the other side of the patio.
He killed Kristina Folkerts, who worked at Park Tavern, and Gabe Harvey, a health care specialist at nearby Methodist Hospital.
In May, Bailey pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder and three counts of criminal vehicular operation. Under the terms of the plea deal, he was expected to face a sentence of 25 to 30 years along with paying restitution to victims.
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Hennepin County Judge Juan Hoyos gave Bailey the 30 years sought by the prosecution. After hearing the statements in court of nearly a dozen victims of the crash, Hoyos said, “I’ve never heard anything like that in a courtroom. That pain and that loss is going to remain forever.”
Prosecutor Krista White noted Bailey had a blood alcohol concentration nearly four times the legal limit at the time of the crash. She read each of the names of the people killed and injured and said Bailey at the scene that day never asked the conditions of the people he’d run down.
“His only concern in those moments was about himself and how his life might be affected,” she said.
Bailey’s lawyer Thomas Sieben asked for a lesser sentence, saying his client was a father and grandfather and that his life was “worthy of the chance of redemption.”
Asked by the judge if he had anything to say before sentencing, Bailey replied: “I don’t think there’s anything more I can add to ease the pain of the loss I’ve caused to improve the situation.”
Minnesota sentencing guidelines typically allow for someone convicted of a felony to serve about two-thirds of their sentence in prison, so Bailey could be out of prison and on parole in about 20 years.
Beyond the agony of lives lost and broken, the incident raised many questions after it became clear that Bailey had five previous DWIs.
He’d had an interlock device — a blood-alcohol testing device that won’t allow a car to start if alcohol is detected on a driver’s breath — on his vehicle after a 2014 DWI.
During the 2025 Capitol session, lawmakers introduced a bill to keep interlock devices in vehicles of people with DWIs for longer, and increase penalties for those same drivers. The Legislature passed that law, which takes effect later this week.
‘This act is unforgivable’
Before the sentencing Monday, the court heard from loved ones of those who were killed as well as others who were badly injured in the crash. Their statements were heavy with tears, anguish and calls for the judge to impose the harshest sentence possible.
Several noted that among the tragedies, Kristina Folkerts’ three young children were in the care of their fathers, and so separated, creating hardships for them and their loved ones.
“Senseless. That’s the word I’ve come back to every time I try to understand why this has happened,” said Aaron Folkerts, Kristina’s husband. “My daughter never gets to hug her mom again. How do I explain to her?”
He said he hoped his daughter “remembers her mom as she was — a beautiful, loving, caring and joyous soul who lived her life with all she had. But that’s all it is, hope.”
Alcoholism is a disease, he said, but “drinking and driving is not. The defendant had 40 years to learn from his mistakes. He still made the same choices over and over again.”
Tegan D'Albani was among those badly injured. She told the court she had gone to Park Tavern to meet up with some friends and recalled seeing Bailey’s car moving toward them but there was no time to get out of the way. “I remember laying on the ground and looking at my legs. They were broken and backwards,” she said.
The mother of a then-2-year-old needed multiple surgeries and was away from home 40 days. She said she still struggles with leg pain, hasn’t returned to work and isn’t sure if she ever will. “I still struggle with why I am alive and others are not,” she added.
She noted Bailey’s past DWIs. “He was well aware of the consequences of drinking and driving. He didn’t care,” she said. “I believe in forgiveness, but this act is unforgivable.”
Jackie Harvey called her son Gabe a “bright light” among friends and family and was set to graduate in December 2024 and become a registered nurse.
“He was in a good place in his life. He was happy,” she said of her only child. “I’ll never get a hug from him, or hear him laugh. I’ll never get to hear him call me mom again.”
Theo Larson was badly injured in the crash as he sat with his friends that night, including Gabe Harvey.
“By far, the most jarring thing is the loss of my friend Gabe,” he told the court. “The guilt I feel alone is debilitating. He was sitting right beside me.”
Larson said he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, suffered skull fractures and broken bones and struggles now with depression and anxiety. He hasn’t been able to return to his work as an intensive care nurse at Methodist Hospital.
“This was entirely avoidable but his lifetime of reckless decision making led us to this,” he said, adding Bailey “is not fit for society and will continue to prioritize himself.”
Harvey’s partner, Denzel Flowers, called Harvey “the light in every dark place,” adding, “his eyes were like cathedral glass. He looked at the world in wonder. Every day without Gabriel feels like a lifetime. The pain of losing him is immeasurable.”
