The St. Paul attorney who accidentally struck and killed a pedestrian in St. Paul last year is seeking a court order to force the city’s police department to give back his BMW and other belongings seized by authorities following the fatal collision, according to legal documents.
Peter Berge’s attorney, Steven Sitek, filed the petition in Ramsey County District Court this week.
It alleges that the St. Paul Police Department is wrongfully retaining Berge’s property despite prosecutors’ decisions not to file criminal charges against him for his conduct in the Feb. 22, 2017, crash.
A police spokesman responded in a Tuesday evening statement:
“Due to the status of the case and applicable laws, (we) are unable to return the property at this time. We will release as much property as possible — as soon as possible — once the law allows us to do so.”
Scott Spoo, 35, of St. Paul was fatally struck while jogging. Berge was arrested at the scene on suspicion that he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol or distracted by his cellphone.
After reviewing the evidence, the Hennepin County attorney’s office determined the 61-year-old Berge was not under the influence nor on his phone.
As such, prosecutors found Berge’s conduct not to be grossly negligent and declined to file felony charges. Hennepin County handled the review to avoid a conflict of interest that resulted from Berge’s campaign contributions to Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.
The St. Paul city attorney’s office subsequently reviewed the case and decided against filing lower-level charges as well.
Prosecutors reportedly relied on witness statements and accident reconstruction data to make their decisions.
A massive tumor was discovered on Berge’s brain two days after he struck Spoo at Mississippi River Boulevard and Dayton Avenue about 4:40 p.m. that day, authorities say.
Spoo died about an hour after the crash at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. He was a 3M engineer and an avid runner and bicyclist.
Police said Spoo was not wearing headphones or earbuds when he was struck, and officers suspected Berge of being under the influence because he failed balance tests. They also said at the time that there was reason to believe he might have been on his phone.
Berge’s attorneys and friends say the lawyer’s inattentiveness was caused by his brain tumor, which was later found to be malignant.
Sitek maintains Berge had not been feeling well in the lead-up to the accident and that a “board certified neuro-ophthalmologist” who later reviewed Berge’s medical records determined the attorney was experiencing “stroke-like symptoms and significant visual deficits” from his brain tumor at the time of the collision, legal documents say.
The petition claims staff at the St. Paul city attorney’s office told Sitek that police had the right to keep Berge’s property for “investigative” purposes. It goes on to dispute that argument, asserting that the investigation into the incident is effectively over since authorities decided not to file charges.
In addition to his 2013 BMW X3 sport-utility vehicle, the petition seeks the return of Berge’s iPhone, passport, wallet, keys and other miscellaneous items, court documents say.
In October, Spoo’s family filed a lawsuit against Berge, disputing the Hennepin County attorney’s office’s findings regarding his phone use. The civil complaint alleges that witnesses saw Berge look down at a cellphone or other hand-held device just before the collision. The lawsuit also says witnesses saw Berge’s SUV weave fully over the center line of Mississippi River Boulevard three times.
The suit is pending.
The city attorney’s office said the return of evidence in the case is not the determination of its office, and pointed to the police department’s evidence retention policy, which it said allows the department to keep evidence related to homicides permanently.