SEPTEMBER 20, 2024:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The adult son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer is scheduled to change his plea in connection with a fatal crash that killed a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy last year. Ian Cramer faces numerous charges, including homicide while fleeing a peace officer. The charges stem from a December 2023 pursuit and crash that killed Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin. The homicide offense is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. In April, the 43-year-old Cramer pleaded not guilty to the charges. A notice indicated his planned change of plea at a hearing Friday (Sept. 20, 2024), but court filings didn’t provide details.
APRIL 17, 2024:
WASHBURN, N.D. (AP) — The adult son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer pleaded not guilty Wednesday (April 17, 2024) to homicide and other charges in connection with a Dec. 6, 2024, crash that killed a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy.
Ian Cramer, 43, waived his preliminary hearing and entered his not guilty plea to felony charges of homicide while fleeing a peace officer, preventing arrest, reckless endangerment and fleeing an officer, as well as three misdemeanor drug charges and other low-level offenses of driving under suspension and marijuana possession.
A jury trial is scheduled for July. Cramer was initially charged with manslaughter, which was subsequently upgraded to the homicide count.
Ian Cramer’s court appearance lasted just a few minutes. He answered yes and no to procedural questions from state District Judge Bobbi Weiler. He briefly conferred with his public defender outside the courtroom after the hearing, then entered an elevator with two sheriff’s deputies.
Bismarck police said Ian Cramer’s mother had taken him to a hospital because of mental health concerns. Court documents say he crawled into the driver seat of his parents’ vehicle after his mother got out and smashed in reverse through the closed garage door of the hospital’s ambulance bay. Court documents say he later fled from deputies when one confronted him in Hazen, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Bismarck.
Cramer hit speeds over 100 mph (160 kph) and kept going even after a spiked device flattened two tires, according to court documents. More spikes were set up and Cramer swerved and then crashed head-on into Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin’s patrol vehicle and launched him about 100 feet (30 meters), authorities said. Martin, 53, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
In March, Ian Cramer pleaded not guilty to separate felony charges of theft, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment in connection with the events at the hospital. A jury trial is scheduled for June.
Sen. Cramer has said his son “suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.”
Cramer was scheduled for a criminal responsibility evaluation in March at the State Hospital in Jamestown in connection with the two cases.
He is being held at the McLean County Jail in Washburn on $500,000 cash bail.
DECEMBER 22, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer’s 42-year-old son is facing additional charges in connection with the pursuit and crash that killed a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy this month.
Ian Cramer, who is in jail, is now also accused of theft, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment for allegedly taking a family vehicle and driving through a closed garage door of a Bismarck hospital’s ambulance bay. The new charges were filed Tuesday (Dec. 19, 2023).
He was previously charged in Mercer County with homicide, reckless endangerment, preventing arrest and drug possession, among other counts, in connection with the Dec. 6, 2023, pursuit and crash. A state district court judge set a $500,000 cash bond on those charges, and Cramer is set for a Feb. 7 preliminary hearing on them.
Cramer’s attorney did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment on the new charges. He has not entered any pleas yet.
Charging documents say Ian Cramer’s mother was taking him to the police department to deal with a traffic citation when his “actions and comments became concerning enough” that she took him to an emergency room. After she left the vehicle, he got into the driver’s seat and reversed the Chevrolet Tahoe through the ambulance bay’s garage door at high speed, according to court documents.
Authorities say he later fled from deputies who spotted him in Hazen, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Bismarck.
Cramer hit speeds of 100 mph (160 kph) and kept going even after a spiked device flattened two tires, according to court documents. More spikes were set up, and he swerved and crashed head-on into Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin’s squad car, launching him about 100 feet (30 meters) and killing him, authorities said.
Sen. Cramer said in a statement earlier this month that his son has “serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.”
DECEMBER 19, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer appeared in court Monday (Dec. 18, 2023) on a new homicide charge in connection with the crash that killed a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy.
State District Court Judge Bobbi Weiler did not change the $500,000 cash bond she set for him earlier this month. Ian Cramer, who is in jail, is set for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 7. His attorney said he is gathering information for a mental health evaluation.
Last week the judge approved new charges that upgraded Cramer’s initial manslaughter count to homicide while fleeing a peace officer in connection with the Dec. 6, 2023, death of Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin.
Cramer faces nine charges, including reckless endangerment and preventing arrest, related to the pursuit and crash.
The senator said in a statement that his son has “serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.” Ian Cramer’s mother had driven him to a Bismarck hospital over concerns about his mental health, police said. When she got out of the family’s SUV, her son took the wheel and crashed through a door to get out of an enclosed ambulance bay.
Authorities say he then fled from deputies who spotted him in Hazen, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of Bismarck.
Cramer hit speeds of 100 mph (160 kph) and kept going even after a spiked device flattened two tires, according to court documents. More spikes were set up and Cramer swerved and then crashed head-on into Martin’s squad car, launching him about 100 feet (30 meters), authorities said.
DECEMBER 13, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Funeral services will be held Wednesday for the North Dakota sheriff’s deputy killed last week (Dec. 6, 2023) in a crash involving U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer’s adult son, who was fleeing police during a mental health crisis.
Deputy Paul Martin, 53, was a married father of three and an 18-year veteran of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office. His funeral begins Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 13, 2023) at the high school in Beulah, North Dakota, followed by a procession of local emergency responders through town.
Martin’s loss has shaken the community, where even people he arrested praised him. Sheriff Terry Ternes, in a post to the department’s Facebook page, called Martin “our beloved brother in law enforcement, a husband, father, and grandpa. Our wound is raw, and our hearts are broken.”
An obituary for Martin said he began his career in law enforcement in the Army as a military police K-9 officer, followed by years with the Mercer and Nelson county sheriffs’ departments and the Beulah and Hazen police departments. He worked with his K-9 partner Goliath for seven years in Mercer County and, after the dog retired, Goliath “enjoyed napping on Paul’s feet when Paul came home from work and going for rides in the pickup,” according to Martin’s obituary. He also enjoyed the outdoors, including hunting and fishing.
Beulah tow truck operator Lucky Buchmann said Martin was one of the most energetic people he knew. He took his job seriously but had a bubbly outlook on life, Buchmann said.
“I’ve never seen anybody else like him. It wasn’t a drag. His world was not a drag. He was high on life,” said Buchmann, who worked with Martin on towing calls, from nighttime blizzards and icy roads to treacherous lake shoreline. He plans to park his tow truck, with lights on, along the procession route to honor Martin.
Martin is survived by his wife of seven years, three children and four grandchildren. Martin will be interred at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery. Gov. Doug Burgum has directed government agencies to fly flags at half-staff through Wednesday in Martin’s honor, and he encouraged residents to do the same.
Bismarck police and Sen. Kevin Cramer said Ian Cramer was having a mental health issue when he took a family vehicle and fled a Bismarck hospital, crashing through the door of an ambulance bay. His sister tracked the vehicle by a cellphone. Officers found him in Hazen, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of Bismarck, but he fled at over 100 mph (160 kph) on a state highway, even with two tires flattened from a Beulah police officer’s spiked device, according to court documents.
Martin and Beulah Police Chief Frank Senn had deployed more tire deflation devices and had taken cover behind their vehicles before the crash, according to court documents. Authorities say Ian Cramer swerved and crashed head-on into Martin’s squad car, pushing the vehicle into Martin “and launching him for about 100 feet” (30 meters). He landed in a ditch.
Martin was pronounced dead at a Hazen hospital. Ian Cramer was evaluated at a hospital then jailed. Cramer has been charged with multiple counts, including manslaughter, fleeing a police officer and reckless endangerment.
A state district court judge on Friday set him a $500,000 cash bond and ordered a mental health evaluation. His public defender was appointed Monday. His attorney did not return a phone message for comment about the case. Cramer is in jail in nearby Washburn, North Dakota.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican who was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving three terms in the House, released a statement asking for prayers for the deputy’s family and colleagues. He said his family grieves with “the family of the hero who tried to help Ian.”
He wrote that his son “suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.”
Ian Cramer’s mother, Kris Cramer, took him to the hospital after he insisted on “going to his brother Ike,” who died in 2018, according to the senator’s statement.
DECEMBER 7, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer crashed into a North Dakota sheriff’s vehicle during a police chase, pushing it into a deputy and killing him, according to authorities and the Republican senator’s family.
Ian Cramer, of Bismarck, was arrested and jailed following Wednesday’s (Dec. 6, 2023) crash and charges are pending, the North Dakota Highway Patrol said in a news release. The name of the Mercer County deputy who was killed has not been released, and the sheriff’s office didn’t immediately respond to a Thursday voicemail seeking further information.
“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 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 the statement, which doesn’t further explain what that means. As a result, the senator’s wife, Kris, took Ian Cramer to the Sanford Health emergency room in Bismarck.
When Kris Cramer got out of the family’s Chevrolet Tahoe, Ian Cramer got into the driver’s seat and drove off, Kevin Cramer said. The senator’s daughter tracked the SUV through a cellphone and alerted the authorities.
The highway patrol said a Mercer County deputy saw Cramer and the SUV in the town of Hazen. Cramer fled and, during the chase, crashed an unoccupied Mercer County Sheriff’s vehicle that was parked on the side of a road, the patrol said.
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 vehicle into the deputy, killing him.
Ian Cramer was taken to a hospital in Hazen and then to the Mercer County Jail in Stanton.
Kevin Cramer was elected to the Senate in 2018 after serving three terms in the House. In addition to Ian, Cramer and his wife have two other sons, two daughters and six grandchildren, according to a biography on Cramer’s Senate web page.
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