Authorities ID driver who died

in Minnetonka police chase

MINNETONKA, Minn. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a 30-year-old man who died in a crash after a police chase in Minnetonka.

The Minnesota State Patrol identifies the man as David Phillip Baxter of Montrose. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office says Baxter died at the scene of Friday’s crash of multiple blunt force injuries.

According to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, police began pursuing Baxter’s Mercury Tracer after seeing it speeding. Officers lost sight of the fleeing car and soon came upon the two-vehicle crash.

The patrol says Baxter tried to pass traffic and entered the opposite traffic lane, crashing head-on into a 2015 Volvo. The other driver suffered life-threatening injuries and remains in critical condition at HCMC.

The crash shut down busy Minnetonka Boulevard near the Minnetonka-Hopkins border.