Trooper Shane Roper silent in first manslaughter hearing

By KAALTV

Trooper Shane Roper silent in first manslaughter hearing

(ABC 6 News) – Minnesota State Patrol trooper Shane Roper was silent and avoided eye contact with Olivia Flores’ family in his first appearance since the crash that killed the Owatonna teenager Thursday morning.

Roper pleaded not guilty to five felony charges stemming from the May crash outside Apache Mall: 2nd-degree manslaughter–culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk; criminal vehicular homicide–operate motor vehicle in grossly negligent manner; three counts of criminal vehicular operation–substantial bodily harm.

Roper’s MSP personnel file, released to ABC 6 News before the Flores family received it, revealed four on-duty crashes before the fatal collision.

In terms of disciplinary action following the crashes, Roper received a total of four letters of reprimand, 8 hours taken from his paid vacation time, and one 8-hour unpaid suspension.

Judge Christa Daily set Roper’s bail at $100,000 unconditionally, or $0 with conditions.

Chief among those conditions was the instruction not to drive at all. Roper’s license was suspended following the charges in July, and he is not allowed to have contact with the Flores family, according to the Aug. 29 hearing.

ABC 6 reached out to Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem for clarification on the decision to release Roper without bond and he said it was typical in cases like these.

“There’s two factors that we look at: One is will the defendant return to court as scheduled and the second is the significance of ongoing public safety issues,” Ostrem said. “We’re comfortable that as long as he’s not driving, we have no information that he poses any other public safety risk.”

Roper has a settlement conference scheduled for Nov. 21, followed by a pretrial hearing March 25, 2025, and a jury trial March 31.