Off-duty St. Cloud officer gravely injured in Apple Valley bus collision

An off-duty St Cloud Minn police officer was in grave condition Friday after his pickup truck crashed into the back of a Mississippi Valley Transit Authority bus on Monday night in Apple Valley Law enforcement announced that alcohol was involved though St Cloud Police Chief Jeffrey Oxton disputed whether it contributed to the crash The MVTA bus and the Ram pickup driven by Ryan Matthew Ebert of Big Lake were traveling northbound on Minnesota Cedar Avenue when the truck collided with the back of the bus and a cable barrier just before p m Monday according to a Minnesota State Patrol document Ebert suffered injuries that are not survivable friend Tonya Eggers wrote on a GoFundMe campaign she started for Ebert s children who are and His family is now navigating a time filled with unexpected and overwhelming challenges Eggers wrote As a devoted father Ryan s greatest priority has inevitably been the well-being of his children Ebert was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medicinal Center in Minneapolis He was not wearing a seat belt and an airbag deployed at the time of the crash the State Patrol noted The agency noted in a analysis that Ebert s alcohol use was a factor in the crash It is essential that it be known that toxicology from blood samples taken by therapeutic staff upon Ryan s arrival at the hospital indicate that he had a very small or trace-amount of alcohol in his system significantly below that which would ever lead to a person being considered impaired or driving under the influence St Cloud Police Chief Jeffrey Oxton announced in a written announcement issued Friday The State Patrol did not have access to Ebert s biological records and his family authorized their use and release for the St Cloud Police Department report stated Oxton adding that news coverage of the crash may be misleading Unfortunately without all the information being known the preliminary details being disseminated in several media coverage may lead one to assume otherwise Oxton mentioned The driver of the bus Phillip Alan Wright of Apple Valley wore a seat belt and suffered minor injuries the State Patrol announced Ebert has been an officer with the St Cloud Police Department since according to state licensing records He worked as an investigator and a patrol officer Oxton noted Our department is devastated by this news the chief declared For all of us devastated by this tragic accident it is critical that the cause of the accident not be judged prematurely before the final State Patrol Review is complete and all the information is known and available Related Articles Voting process Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school board Judge finds Current DJ s stalker violated restraining order but not guilty due to mental illness Suspected drunken driver in crash that killed Apple Valley couple just got off probation court documents show from Apple Valley killed in head-on collision in southern Dakota County Man killed after shooting at officers in West St Paul identified