The son of a Republican senator was sentenced Monday to nearly three decades in prison for the death of a sheriff’s deputy during a high-speed chase last December.
Ian Cramer, 43, the son of North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, was behind the wheel of his parents’ SUV when he crashed into the deputy’s patrol vehicle Dec. 6, 2023, according to news reports.
Mercer County Deputy Paul Martin, 53, was setting up stop sticks to halt Cramer’s flight. He was struck by the patrol vehicle and later pronounced dead.
Sen. Kevin Cramer’s adult son given stiff jail sentence over high-speed chase leading to crash that killed sheriff’s deputy https://t.co/T7buOi6RIt pic.twitter.com/sS1PKXsW7Z
— New York Post (@nypost) December 30, 2024
Ian Cramer had fled in the vehicle from a hospital ambulance bay after his mother took him to the emergency room for treatment of hallucinations, according to the New York Post.
“Court documents say he crawled into the driver seat of his parents’ vehicle after his mother got out and smashed in reverse through the closed garage door of the hospital’s ambulance bay,” The Associated Press reported.
That set off a chase where Cramer hit speeds of more than 100 mph, according to the AP, and didn’t stop even after two tires had been flatted by law enforcement devices.
He was swerving to avoid more devices when he hit Martin’s vehicle, the AP reported.
The senator and his wife said their son had mental problems exacerbated by drug use. Ian Cramer admitted to using methamphetamines and bath salts the day of the fatal crash, the AP reported.
Ian Cramer pleaded guilty in September to nine charges, according to NBC News, “including homicide while fleeing a peace officer, reckless endangerment and drug possession.”
At Monday’s sentencing hearing, he apologized to Martin’s family, the AP reported.
“I had no intention to do any of this. It was an accident, and I just hope that someday they can forgive me, and I think the best thing for me is to go to a hospital and just get more help,” he said.
At the hearing, Judge Bobbi Weiler sentenced Cramer to 28 years in prison, but indicated he was unlikely to serve the full sentence — and might likely serve very little of it behind bars.
“The (state) Department of Corrections has their own policy on how much time you’re going to serve,” Weiler said, according to the AP.
“These are not mandatory minimums, which means that you’re probably going to serve a small portion of that 28 years and be out on parole, so that’ll … give you an opportunity to have a second chance that Deputy Martin does not have, nor does his family have.”
Kevin Cramer told reporters after the sentencing that he was “somewhat disappointed that mental health is so casually dismissed both by the court and by the prosecutor.”
However, he acknowledged his son’s responsibility for the tragedy.
“But I don’t think there’s any question there’s not one person, including Ian, who doesn’t know that they were his choices that led to this, whatever they may be, under whatever condition, choices that go back many years,” he said.
Kevin Cramer first won election in 2018, defeating Democrat Heidi Heitkamp. He was re-elected in November.
A strong supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, he has been a leading critic of the liberal, taxpayer-funded National Public Radio network.
However, he broke with other Senate Republicans in February over the controversial package for Ukraine aid.
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