BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer was being chased by police when he crashed into a North Dakota sheriff’s vehicle, killing a sheriff’s deputy who was outside of the vehicle and laying down road spikes, according to authorities and the senator’s family.
Ian Cramer, of Bismarck, was driven by his mother to a hospital at around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday over concerns about his mental health, Bismarck police said. When she got out of the family SUV, Ian Cramer took the wheel and drove through a door to get out of the enclosed ambulance bay at the hospital’s emergency department.
Over an hour later, a deputy in neighboring Mercer County spotted Cramer and the Chevrolet Tahoe in Hazen, a community about 70 miles northwest of Bismarck. The North Dakota Highway Patrol said in a news release that a chase began and the SUV crashed into a Mercer County sheriff’s vehicle that was parked along a state highway.
A deputy was standing behind the parked vehicle and preparing to deploy a tire deflation device to end the chase. The impact of the crash pushed the parked vehicle into the deputy, killing him. He
Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin was killed in the line of duty on Dec. 12, 2023. (photo: North Dakota Highway Patrol)
was identified Thursday as 53-year-old Paul Martin.
Ian Cramer was evaluated at a hospital and then jailed. The patrol said charges are pending.
“We ask the public for prayers for the lost officer’s family and colleagues who serve us every day and are grateful for all they do for us,” Kevin Cramer said in a statement.
The first-term Republican senator wrote that his son “suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.” Earlier Wednesday, Ian Cramer insisted on “going to his brother Ike,” who died in 2018, according to the statement, which doesn’t further explain what that means.
Alarmed, Kris Cramer took her son to the Sanford Health emergency room in Bismarck. While parked in the ambulance bay, “Ian got into the driver’s seat and allegedly rammed the doors of the bay and fled the scene,” Bismarck police said.
The senator’s daughter tracked the SUV through a cellphone and alerted the authorities. The patrol said that when a Mercer County deputy spotted Ian Cramer in Hazen and approached him, Cramer fled. The crash happened minutes later on North Dakota Highway 200, a few miles outside of Hazen.
Martin was an 18-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, which said he was married and had three children.
In a post to the sheriff’s office Facebook page, Mercer County Sheriff Terry Ternes said Martin “is our beloved brother in law enforcement, a husband, father, and grandpa. Our wound is raw, and our hearts are broken.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum directed government agencies to fly flags at half-staff in honor of Martin until sunset on the day he is interred. He encouraged residents to do the same.
The main entrance to the hospital in Bismarck sustained damage to its emergency department’s vehicle and ambulance garage, according to Sanford Health Bismarck. The entrance is temporarily out of service, with a temporary entrance since set up. No one was injured, the hospital said.
Kevin Cramer was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving three terms in the House. In addition to Ian and Ike, Cramer and his wife have one other son, two daughters and six grandchildren, according to a biography on Cramer’s Senate web page.
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