An off-duty St. Cloud police officer drove his pickup truck into the back of a suburban transit bus on a Twin Cities highway and suffered critical injuries, officials said.
The crash that injured Ryan Ebert occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Monday on northbound Hwy. 77 just south of Interstate 35E in Apple Valley, according to the State Patrol, which noted that it suspects alcohol was a factor.
Ebert, 44, of Big Lake, Minn., was taken by emergency medical responders to HCMC, where he remains in critical condition.
“Ryan was involved in a serious car accident that has left him with injuries that are not survivable,” Tonya Eggers, a close friend, wrote in [an online fundraising campaign](https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-ryan-eberts-children-after-tragic-accident) that she started. “His family is now navigating a time filled with unexpected and overwhelming challenges.”
The fundraiser notes that Ebert is the father of two children, ages 17 and 18.
Ebert has been on the St. Cloud police force for the past 18 years, according to state licensing records.
According to a search warrant affidavit filed by the State Patrol in Hennepin County District Court, a trooper approached the pickup in the median and noticed an “obvious odor of alcohol” coming from the unconscious Ebert.
Witnesses reported the pickup was traveling “at a high rate of speed” when it struck the bus from behind, the filing continued.