On February 1, 2026, at 1959 hours, Officer Tan with the Mounds View Police Department was working the Toward Zero Deaths detail in a fully marked squad car when he observed a vehicle, JEL073, operating on westbound Highway 36 near White Bear Avenue, in Maplewood, Ramsey County, with a broken headlight. A computer check revealed that the registered owner of the vehicle, Delveccio Lavell Smith, [DOB REDACTED], had a revoked driver’s license. The officer caught up to the vehicle and initiated emergency lights.
The vehicle did not slow or pull over, but accelerated. The officer activated sirens. The driver still did not stop but lost control of the vehicle when it hit the shoulder on the curved sections of highway just past US-61. The fleeing vehicle struck a sivler Honda CR-V, driven by NG. After the crash, two males fled on foot from the vehicle. A search of the vehicle revealed a loaded Glock 29 10mm handgun with an extended magazine. The gun was on the driver’s seat. Assisting police officers arrested both men.
The driver was Smith. In a post-Miranda interview, he said he did not stop because he was tired of getting tickets. He told the officer that he should not have pursued him because the roads were wet. DNA analysis found a mixture of DNA from two individuals. The major male DNA profile on the gun matched Smith’s DNA profile. Smith is ineligible to possess firearms and ammunition due to a conviction for Crime Committed for the Benefit of a Gang, 62CR211355, 04/21/2021. Smith has a prior conviction for Possession of a Firearm by an Ineligible Person, 27CR2015938, 01/21/2021. NG suffered neck pain and a contusion to his left lower shin as a result of the collision.
