Charges: Unlicensed Twin Cities man accused of killing other driver in crash while fleeing police

A 37-year-old man driving without a license was charged Monday with fleeing police in the east metro until he crashed his SUV into a car and killed the other driver.

Nicholas John Price of Roseville was charged in Ramsey County District Court with causing a death while fleeing police and criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the collision late Friday near the corner of Edgerton Street and Bellwood Avenue in Maplewood.

Price appeared in court Monday. He remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail ahead of a hearing on Jan. 6. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

Price was driving at the time after his license had been revoked, the state Department of Public Safety said Monday.

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office also charged Price on Monday with threats of violence and domestic assault stemming from a former girlfriend's allegations.

"Hopefully, if he is found guilty of his latest crimes, the judge will deliver a sentence that sends a strong message to him and others like him who continually commit crime after crime after crime: Enough," read a statement posted on the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. "It's time to change or go to prison. Price has been arrested or charged more than three dozen times."

According to the criminal complaints and the Sheriff's Office:

A 29-year-old woman called 911 about 7:30 p.m. and said she was at Price's home, where her former boyfriend threatened to set her on fire, and also grabbed her by the throat, shoved her head into a wall and pushed her down some steps.

About 10:20 p.m., police in Roseville saw the SUV heading east on W. County Road B near Dale Street and sought to pull him over by ramming his vehicle, but Price fled. Sheriff's deputies joined police in the pursuit near E. County Road C and Rice Street.

The chase ended about 10:30 p.m., when Price crashed his SUV into a car near Edgerton Street and Bellwood Avenue in Maplewood.

Price, who suffered a broken leg in the crash, was arrested at the scene.

The other driver, a 61-year-old man, was removed from his car by emergency responders. Medics took him to a hospital, where he died.

Video from a vehicle at the intersection showed the car on northbound Edgerton and turning left onto Bellwood. Price hit the car while speeding south on Edgerton.

Price told a sheriff's investigator, "I shouldn't have run or anything, but that's what I do — fight or flight," one complaint quoted him as saying.

He said that his former girlfriend moved out of his home the day before and returned to speak with him on Friday. He said she accused him of cheating on her. Price said he tried to leave, but she was in his way, "so he moved her with an open hand," one complaint read. He accused her of lying about him hitting her.

Price said he was acting on instinct when he fled from law enforcement.

"I wish I never did," he said. "I hope to God the people I hit are OK or not dead."

He estimated that he was driving 80 to 90 miles per hour just before impact.

Price said he had taken oxycodone that belonged to his former girlfriend and smoked marijuana on the day of the crash. Law enforcement collected a blood sample from Price to have tested for being under the influence of an illicit drug.

Court records in Minnesota show that Price's criminal history includes four convictions for driving either after his license was revoked or suspended, and once each for drunken driving and driving without insurance.

He's also been convicted four times for receiving stolen property, three times for theft and once each for illegal weapons possession, burglary, check forgery, disorderly conduct and obstructing police.

At the time of the crash, three felony cases in Ramsey County were pending resolution. They accuse him of stealing a television from a St. Paul apartment complex, assaulting a man in Little Canada and vehicle theft in Maplewood.

"Price has failed to appear and repeatedly violated the terms of his conditional release on those [charges]," the complaints read. "Price keeps getting released due to his claims that he is participating in treatment."