Crime & Safety

Driver in Fiery Crash: Suspect Then Victim

A suspected assault, then a suspected Arson, then a fiery crash off I-394.

A man police suspect of committing aggravated assault and arson earlier in the evening ended Thursday night on fire, himself, in a crash along Interstate 394.

That man has been identified as Nathanial Ira Cornely, 22, of Bloomington.

Just before 10 p.m., a car traveling eastbound along the highway left the roadway, broke through the fence that separates the interstate from Ridgedale Drive and crash-landed in front of the  store. The car then "exploded" into flames and “badly burned” the car’s driver,  said.

Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to multiple law enforcement sources, the fiery crash was a gruesome end to a two-hour spree across the metro.

Bloomington Police Spokesman Cmdr. Mark Stehlik told Patch the victim in this case was wanted for aggravated assault in that city and the subject of an alert that police there issued in the hours leading up to the crash.

Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to Stehlik, Bloomington police responded to a hit-and-run call around 8 p.m. Thursday. On the scene, officers met a woman who said she was in the process of moving out of the apartment which she shared with the her ex-boyfriend. That man, a resident of Bloomington in his 20s, reportedly rear-ended the car in which his ex-girlfriend and her male companion were riding Thursday night, and then also tried to hit her and the companion, police said, after they got out of the car. 

“He drove at a high rate of speed at them but swerved. That's the aggravated assault,” Stehlik said. “Then he disappeared down the roadway and that was it for our [Bloomington police] part of it.”

The man’s next reported stop was in South Minneapolis, where he is suspected of committing arson. Around 9 p.m., according to Minneapolis Police Sgt. Stephen McCarty, police and fire units were called to the 2500 block of Cedar Avenue after a call came in reporting a fire. 

“The suspect in that fire left and ultimately ended up in this accident on 394,” McCarty told Minnetonka Patch.

Less than an hour later, along the interstate in Minnetonka, witnesses reported seeing fire coming from within the car prior to the driver veering off the pavement and crashing, according to Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske. The car was traveling at a high rate of speed before the crash, he said.

There are conflicting accounts of what happened in the moments immediately following the crash. Three young men have told various media outlets they pulled the man from the burning car. However, Minnetonka Police Sgt. Allen Ringate told Patch the sole occupant of the vehicle, despite being "on fire himself," managed to escape the car on his own.

Minnetonka Patch made contact with one of young men who first happened upon the crash, but he wouldn't confirm whether he and his companions actually rescued the driver. 

“Yes I was there,” he wrote in an email to Minnetonka Patch.

Assistant Minnetonka Fire Chief Kevin Fox confirmed that the three men were treated on the scene for smoke inhalation.

A local resident who doesn't want to be identified said he witnessed the accident as he drove eastbound along Interstate 394.

“I saw the car going super super fast and then flip over. It was crazy,” he said.  

The witness told Patch he doubled backed to the fiery car, which had come to rest in the 13700 block of Ridgedale Drive. By the time he was able to reach the wreck, he said, the driver was no longer inside the burning vehicle. Bystanders used their clothing in an attempt to extinguish the victim, the witness said. Still, the man was still on fire, Minnetonka police said, as the Minnetonka Fire Department arrived. 

“He [the victim] was charred, his body was black,” the witness said. 

The driver of the car was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center with life-threatening injuries and died on July 11 from those injuries, the State Patrol said.

Bloomington police and Minneapolis arson investigators continue to look into the events that preceded this fiery crash. Minnetonka Police are aiding the Minnesota State Patrol with the investigation of the crash.


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