St. Cloud police officer gravely injured in off-duty crash; alcohol involved, state patrol says
A St. Cloud, Minnesota, police officer is in the hospital with injuries that "are not survivable" after his truck collided with a bus in the Twin Cities on Monday in an off-duty crash that involved alcohol, officials said.
The crash happened at 9:56 p.m. on northbound Highway 77 near Interstate 35E in Apple Valley, Minnesota. The state patrol said Ryan Matthew Ebert, 44, was driving a 2024 Dodge Ram 1500 on the highway when his truck collided with a 2018 Transit Bus and a cable barrier.
Ebert, who St. Cloud Police Chief Jeff Oxton says is an 18-year veteran of the SCPD, was taken to the hospital. Oxton said on Friday that his injuries "are not survivable."
The bus driver, a 65-year-old man identified by the state patrol as Phillip Alan Wright of Apple Valley, was taken to the hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening.
The state patrol said alcohol was involved with Ebert. Oxton said in a news release on Friday that blood samples taken by medical personnel at the hospital "indicate that he had a very small or trace-amount of alcohol in his system, significantly below that which would ever lead to a person being considered impaired or driving under the influence."
Ebert has served St. Cloud as an investigator and a patrol officer.
An online fundraiser for his children has raised over $25,000.