ST. CLOUD - Two men who harassed and then stole a vehicle belonging to a Lyft driver in St. Cloud died after they crashed the vehicle into a grove of trees southeast of the city early Tuesday morning, Nov. 13.
According to a news release, the two men were picked up by a 46-year-old Lyft driver in the southeast part of town about 1 a.m. and he drove them around for a short period of time as they didn’t appear to know where they were going.
One of the men in the back seat then reached over the seat and grabbed the steering wheel, nearly causing the vehicle driven by the Lyft driver to go off the road. The driver then pulled over and one of the men in the back grabbed him by the shirt and seatbelt, threatening to kill him, the release said.
The driver got out of the car and called the police. One of the men briefly came after him, then got back into vehicle and sped away with the other man still inside.
Minutes later, about 1:15 a.m., a Sherburne County deputy who was parked along River Road that runs along the Mississippi River southeast of the city clocked a vehicle going about 112 mph.
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As the deputy tried to catch up to the vehicle, he approached a curve in the road and saw and smelled smoke and vehicle wreckage.
The vehicle had crashed into the trees on the south side of River Road close to the town of Clearwater, the release said.
One of the men had been ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene, said the release. The second man was taken to a St. Cloud hospital where he later died.
Investigators learned that the vehicle was the one stolen from the Lyft driver.
The two men who died weren’t identified pending notification of next of kin, said authorities with the St. Cloud Police Department and the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated the incident.
