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A former Minnesota state trooper accused of driving more than twice the speed limit before slamming into a car and killing 18-year-old high school cheerleader Olivia Flores is now being sued by the teen’s family.
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Minnesota federal court by Carlos and Stephanie Flores against 32-year-old Shane Roper. The parents are seeking compensatory, general, and punitive damages as well as attorneys’ fees and costs in the matter.
Roper is also facing nine criminal charges, including one count of second-degree manslaughter, criminal vehicular homicide, and reckless driving resulting in death, in connection with Flores’ fatal injuries.
The fatal collision took place on the afternoon of May 18, 2024, in front of Rochester’s Apache Mall. Flores was a passenger in a vehicle being driven by her friend and Roper was driving his squad car, which did not have its emergency lights or siren activated.
“Ms. Flores died from the injuries she sustained when the vehicle in which she was a passenger was struck by the squad car of Minnesota State Trooper Shane Roper while he was on-duty,” the suit says. “Defendant Roper was excessively and recklessly speeding through a busy intersection in Rochester, Minnesota at over twice the posted speed limit in an area Roper knew to have heavy traffic. Defendant Roper saw and appreciated that there were other vehicles and occupants in the area and he consciously disregarded the risk he created by his shocking driving conduct.”
According to the complaint, Roper was driving at a speed of 83 mph in a 40 mph zone just before the collision. In addition to killing Flores, the crash left five other people injured. Prosecutors previously stated that he pushed the gas to “full throttle.”
“There was no legitimate law enforcement purpose for Defendant Roper’s decision to excessively speed with reckless and conscious disregard for the other persons in his path,” the complaint states. “Defendant Roper’s conscious disregard for the health, safety, and substantive due process rights of Ms. Flores, and others, constitutes criminal recklessness and deliberate indifference. Such indifference shocks the conscience under the specific circumstances of this case.”
Roper’s body camera showed it was only after the collision that he turned on his lights and sirens, per the complaint.
As Law&Crime previously reported, one of the crash survivors told St. Paul ABC affiliate KSTP that Roper’s car approached like a “rocket” toward them as they were at the intersection making a turn. Witnesses initially disclosed that Roper was seen driving his trooper vehicle into a Ford Focus as it made a left turn and that the Focus was pushed into a nearby Toyota RAV4. Flores was in the Ford Focus with two others. There were two people in the RAV4.
Prosecutors in Roper’s criminal case said he has been involved in four prior crashes caused by inattentive driving or speeding. In one incident, investigators said he drove over 99 mph multiple times on the day of the crash. That also included driving 135 mph in a 55 mph zone for an emergency call with neither his lights nor his sirens on then, either.
Minnesota State Patrol Col. Christina Bogojevic expressed the department’s condolences and said Roper’s alleged actions are “concerning” because they did not “align with the State Patrol’s core values.”
“The announcement of charges marks the next steps in the judicial process related to this case. We respect that process and cannot comment further due to ongoing criminal proceedings,” Bogojevic said in a statement obtained by Law&Crime in July.
Roper was fired from the state police in September following an internal investigation that concluded there was “no justification” for the speed at which he was driving at the time of the crash, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.
A GoFundMe for the Flores family can be found here.
