MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 33-year-old St. Paul man has been charged after he allegedly crashed in to another driver during a police chase early Saturday morning.
On Tuesday, Florencio Cordero was charged with one felony count of fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle.
According to authorities, police tried to pull over Cordero on eastbound Highway 36 at Victoria Street at 12:28 a.m. for an equipment violation. Cordero exited on the Dale Street ramp, but continued south on Dale while ignoring the pursuing officer.
Cordero fled from officers for another three miles on Dale Street before entering the semaphore light-controlled intersection of Dale and Minnehaha Avenue in St. Paul, where he ran a red light – striking an eastbound car at 60 miles per hour.
The other car burst in to flames on impact, with a 28-year-old female driver trapped inside. Officers rescued the woman before her car became fully engulfed.
Cordero was also found trapped in his car, screaming in pain. St. Paul Firefighters freed him from his vehicle. Police found 10 small vodka containers – the kind one receives on an airplane – on the ground near Cordero’s driver’s door, according to the complaint.
Both Cordero and his female victim were taken to a St. Paul-area hospital, where both were treated for non-life threatening yet substantial bodily injury.
The female victim will have to have surgery and a skin graft for one of the burns she suffered on her back.
If convicted of the charge, Cordero faces a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
