16-year-old dies after pursuit and crash

At approximately 4:45 a.m. Saturday, May 7, a Beltrami County Sheriff’s deputy stopped a car in Bemidji and arrested the driver, Kevin Lee Green, 21, of Boy River, Minn., for drunk driving.

The deputy observed the passenger to be passed out in the right front seat of the vehicle. As the deputy was dealing with Green outside of the vehicle, Morris Isaac Beaulieu Jr., 16, slid behind the wheel of the vehicle. The deputy and responding Bemidji Police officers gave verbal commands to the Beaulieu to get out of the vehicle. Ignoring the commands of officers, Beaulieu gunned the engine, made a U-Turn and drove off north on Bemidji Avenue at a high rate of speed. A second deputy, who was just arriving at the scene, began to pursue the vehicle as it fled northbound.

Two Bemidji Police officers joined the deputy in the pursuit that continued north on Bemidji Road at speeds of approximately 100 mph. Beaulieu swerved the vehicle from lane to lane as he fled. Beaulieu continued through Turtle River at high speeds and lost control on the curve north of Turtle River causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and roll through the ditch and into the trees ejecting Beaulieu from the vehicle.

Officers arriving on the scene began to render first aid. Bemidji Ambulance Service and North Memorial Air Care helicopter responded to the scene, and Beaulieu was air lifted to Fargo, N.D., where he later died from injuries suffered in the crash.

This case is being investigated by the Minnesota State Patrol and the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office.