A 28-year-old Lake Elmo man is facing seven criminal charges after police say he led officers on a high-speed chase through Saint Paul Park with two young children in his Dodge Charger, along with heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine, before crashing into a parked Chevrolet Traverse in South Saint Paul.
Dominick Floyd Halverson was taken into custody at the crash scene after the pursuit ended at the corner of 9th Avenue and 2nd Street, according to a criminal complaint reported by MN Crime. The chase began on September 27, 2025, when a Saint Paul Park police officer spotted a black Dodge Charger speeding on 70th Street, the outlet reports. Before the officer activated emergency lights and sirens, the Charger reportedly turned onto Summit Avenue, where the driver allegedly performed a burnout and donut maneuver. The Charger then pulled out of a Speedway gas station lot at high speed onto Broadway Avenue as the officer activated emergency lights and sirens for a traffic stop.
Rather than stop, Halverson allegedly accelerated westbound on Broadway Avenue, and the pursuit continued for several blocks as he ran a stop sign at 3rd Street, per the same account. The chase finally ended in a crash that left the Charger with major front-end damage and its airbags deployed.
Children Found Unrestrained, Adult Passenger Injured
Inside the Charger at the time of the crash were another adult male and two children, the complaint states. None of the children were secured in car seats, the article notes, a detail that stands apart from Minnesota's Child Passenger Restraint Law, which as of August 1, 2024, requires children to remain rear-facing until at least age 2 and use a booster seat until at least age 9 or until the child outgrows the booster and passes the five-step test, according to Buckle Up MN.
One child passenger appeared visibly shaken and trembling after the crash and told officers that Halverson was driving very fast and that the child had neck pain, per the complaint. The adult passenger sustained leg and knee injuries and told police he had urged Halverson to stop once he saw the squad car lights, and that he tried to secure the children on the floor of the vehicle before impact. That passenger estimated the Charger was traveling between 60 and 80 mph before the crash, the outlet reports.
Drugs, Scale Found in Vehicle
Officers reportedly found a digital scale that appeared to have cocaine residue inside the vehicle, along with a Ziploc bag containing several smaller baggies tucked under the front driver seat floorboard cover. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed the contents of those baggies included 3.4 grams of a substance containing cocaine, 2.3 grams of another substance containing cocaine, 12.53 grams of a substance containing heroin, and 0.344 grams of a substance containing xylazine and fentanyl, according to the complaint.
The BCA also tested Halverson's blood and confirmed it contained cocaine, per the complaint. Fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine are all classified as schedule I or II controlled substances under state law. The combination of xylazine and fentanyl found in the vehicle reflects a substance mix that Minnesota health officials have flagged as especially dangerous — state toxicology records analyzed by the Minnesota Department of Health found illicit fentanyl present in 100 percent of xylazine-involved overdose deaths recorded in the state between 2019 and 2022.
Charges Filed in Washington County
Halverson faces two counts of criminal vehicular operation causing bodily harm while under the influence of a controlled substance, two counts of child endangerment, fleeing police in a motor vehicle, second-degree drug possession, and fourth-degree drug possession with intent to sell. The complaint alleges Halverson endangered the two children by allowing them to be present where drugs were possessed, caused bodily harm while driving under the influence of a controlled substance, and possessed six grams or more of a mixture containing heroin along with cocaine he intended to sell.
The complaint was filed in Washington County District Court on August 28, 2026. Under Minnesota Statute § 609.487, fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle is a felony punishable by up to three years and one day in prison and a $5,000 fine, with the potential sentence rising to five years if the pursuit causes substantial bodily harm, according to the Minnesota Revisor's Office. A conviction also triggers mandatory driver's license revocation of at least one year and can subject the vehicle used in the pursuit to state civil forfeiture, per Gerald Miller P.A.
The child endangerment counts concern allegations that Halverson endangered the two children by allowing them to be present where controlled substances were possessed. Separately, the criminal vehicular operation charges allege that Halverson caused bodily harm while driving under the influence of a controlled substance.
The most serious charge Halverson faces, fourth-degree possession with intent to sell, carries a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. The second-degree possession charge carries up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for a first controlled-substance conviction. All charges remain allegations, and court proceedings in Washington County are still pending.
A Pattern of Pursuits in the Eastern Metro
The pursuit involved Saint Paul Park and ended in South Saint Paul. Hoodline previously reported on a chase ending in arrests after a separate high-speed pursuit crossed metro roads and ended in a crash in South St. Paul in July.
Statewide, violent crime across the seven-county Twin Cities Metro Area decreased by 14 percent in 2025, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. On the public health side, annual drug overdose deaths across Minnesota declined 26 percent in 2024 to 994 deaths, down from a peak of 1,392 in 2022. Overdose cases involving non-opioid sedatives like xylazine have also climbed sharply, rising from a single detected case in 2023 to 53 cases in 2024 according to state public health surveillance reported by WCCO, with health officials warning that naloxone cannot reverse a sedative overdose the way it can an opioid overdose.
