St. Paul man sentenced in connection to Maplewood crash, standoff

A St. Paul man has been sentenced in connection to a crash and standoff that happened last year in Maplewood.

Court records show Kelly Gordon Sauer, 49, was sentenced to one year and one day at the St. Cloud Correctional Facility. He was also given credit for 115 days served. He had previously pleaded guilty to one count of theft of a motor vehicle, and a charge of fleeing a peace officer was dismissed.

Man charged in Maplewood standoff 'insisted he was going to die,' complaint says

A criminal complaint states officers saw a stolen vehicle on May 21, 2019, and activated their squad's lights to initiate a traffic stop in St. Paul. However, the vehicle fled at a high rate of speed, traveled into Maplewood and finally came to a stop after driving on a front yard, through a fence into a backyard and then striking a wood staircase and retaining wall.

The complaint states the driver, identified as Sauer, refused to get out of the vehicle and told police "the only way he was coming out of the vehicle was in a body bag." Police said Sauer had a warrant out for fleeing police and several other prior felony convictions.

Eventually, SWAT was able to talk Sauer into exiting the vehicle. The complaint states officers found what appeared to be a suicide note when taking him into custody.