Sheriff’s deputy killed in pursuit involving U.S. senator’s son
The son of a U.S. senator was arrested on felony charges after leading police in North Dakota on a car chase that ended in a crash near Hazen, ND, and killed a sheriff’s deputy on Wednesday.
Ian Cramer, the 42-year-old son of Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, was charged with manslaughter and other crimes, court records show.
The slain deputy was Paul Martin, 53, who had worked at the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office for 18 years.
The chase began Wednesday around 4:30 p.m., when Kris Cramer, the senator’s wife, took their son to an emergency room in Bismarck because he was experiencing a mental health crisis, according to a statement from the senator.
The younger Mr. Cramer, his father said in the statement, suffers from “severe mental disorders manifested by severe paranoia and hallucinations.”
“Kris was with Ian when he insisted on going to his brother Ike,” Kevin Cramer said said in the statement on Wednesday. “Ike died in 2018.”
Upon arriving at the hospital, Ian Cramer “jumped into the driver’s seat” and fled, the senator said. He drove it through the doors of the hospital’s ambulance bay, according to Bismarck police.
The vehicle, a black 2017 Chevrolet SUV, was subsequently reported stolenthe police said.
Authorities were able to locate Ian Cramer in the town of Hazen, about 70 miles away in Mercer County, because his mother’s phone was left in the car and its location was tracked by his sister, the senator said.
Ian Cramer then led police on a highway chase.
The chase lasted about five miles before Mr. Cramer crashed the SUV into an unoccupied sheriff’s patrol car parked on the side of the highway. The chase ended just over an hour after he left the hospital.
Mr. Martin “was standing outside and behind the patrol vehicle when it was struck,” the North Dakota Highway Patrol said. “The impact of the crash pushed the patrol vehicle into the deputy, killing him.”
The Highway Patrol said Mr Martin had prepared to deploy a ‘tire deflator’ to stop the fleeing driver.
“We grieve especially for the family of the hero Ian tried to help, and we pray that our gracious God will appear as he always does in the face of tragedy,” the senator said.
“He is our beloved brother in law enforcement, a husband, father and grandfather,” Mercer County Sheriff Terry Ternes said in a statement. “Our wound is raw and our hearts are broken.”
Ian Cramer was taken to a hospital in Hazen, ND, before being booked into the jail in neighboring McLean County. He was still in custody Thursday evening, a prison official said, and no attorney was listed in his court records.
Besides the manslaughter charge, Mr. Cramer faces other charges of fleeing police, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment, court records show.
Police in Bismarck said they were working with the Burleigh County District Attorney’s Office to charge Mr. Cramer with crimes committed there.