St. Paul man receives 18-year prison sentence for charge stemming from fatal 2021 crash

Court records show a St. Paul man will serve nearly two decades in prison after being sentenced Thursday for a charge stemming from a fatal crash that happened last October.

Leonie Sparkman, 31, was sentenced for one count of fleeing an officer- resulting in death or bodily injury. As previously reported, Sparkman signed a plea agreement earlier this year, which dismissed other counts – including two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and theft of a motor vehicle.

Thursday, a judge ordered Sparkman to serve 225 months – more than 18 and a half years – in the St. Cloud prison. He will also get 327 days of credit for time already served. The maximum sentence for the charge is 40 years in prison, an $80,000 fine, or both.

Police were called to the 100 block of Bridlewood Drive around 5 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 22, 2021, for a report of suspicious activity. When they arrived, officers found a Ford Focus in a parking lot with two people inside, a criminal complaint says. A woman rolled down the window, crying, as police approached. The man inside was asked to step away from the car so police could talk to her alone.

The woman told police that Sparkman was her boyfriend, and they had been verbally fighting. They’d been trying to stay at Sparkman’s mom’s house on Bridlewood but they had been homeless “for a while,” according to the complaint.

Another officer talked to Sparkman, who told police that the woman was his sister and provided the brother’s name and incorrect date of birth, but officers were able to identify him from his driver’s license photo and the woman’s testimony, the complaint says. Sparkman had an active warrant out from Anoka County.

One officer attempted to arrest Sparkman, but he resisted when they tried to handcuff him, the complaint states. He ran into a driveway on the 200 block of Bridlewood. Officers ordered him to put his hands up and stop, but Sparkman climbed into a running Lexus. An officer tried to subdue him, but Sparkman was able to get into the driver’s seat and reversed out of the driveway, continuing north on Bridlewood at a high rate of speed.

A man came out of a residence and told officers, “He is stealing my car.” The car’s owner told police that it was warming in the driveway.

Police didn’t pursue Sparkman but heard a crash a short time later. According to the complaint, they found the Lexus crashed near Valleyside Drive and Parkland Court.

A man was lying in the street about 30 yards from the car, unconscious and not breathing. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the St. Paul Fire Department and was later identified by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office as Brian S. Reed of St. Paul. He suffered extensive traumatic injuries to his abdomen, thorax and head.