St. Paul Cyclist Ricki Larson Loses Life After Highland Parkway “Dooring” Crash

A St. Paul bicyclist has died after a driver reportedly opened a parked vehicle door into his path on Highland Parkway. CBS Minnesota reported that 69-year-old Ricki Allan Larson suffered a severe head injury in the June 27, 2026 collision and later died after being removed from life support. Our thoughts are with Mr. Larson’s family, friends, and everyone affected by this loss.

This type of crash is commonly called a “dooring.” It can happen in an instant, but the legal and human consequences can be profound. Minnesota law expressly requires a person to make sure opening a motor-vehicle door is reasonably safe and will not interfere with moving traffic. A bicycle is traffic, and a bicyclist may ride far enough from parked vehicles to avoid the door zone when safety requires it.

Does it matter if a citation was or wasn’t issued to the car driver? A decision not to issue a traffic citation does not decide whether there is civil liability. A family may still have a wrongful-death claim when the evidence shows that an unsafe act or omission caused the death. The civil investigation should begin quickly because video, witness memories, vehicle data, bicycle evidence, phone records, and public records can be lost or overwritten.

What Happened on Highland Parkway?

According to local reporting based on St. Paul police information, officers were called at approximately 3:22 p.m. on June 27 to the 1600 block of Highland Parkway. Police said a woman was getting out of a parked vehicle when she opened the driver-side door and struck Mr. Larson as he rode past.

Mr. Larson sustained a head injury and was taken to Regions Hospital. He was removed from life support on July 3, six days after the collision. KSTP reported that friends described him as a lifelong St. Paul resident who loved riding his bicycle everywhere.

The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators. As of the July 7 reports, she had not been cited or arrested, and police described the investigation as ongoing. Those facts should be reported accurately, but they do not answer every question that matters in a civil case.

What Is a Bicycle “Dooring” Crash?

A dooring crash occurs when a driver or passenger opens a vehicle door into the path of a bicyclist or other road user. The bicyclist may hit the door directly, be thrown over it, lose control and strike the pavement, or swerve into a moving traffic lane. These are not minor “bumps.” A rigid door edge can stop the bicycle abruptly while the rider’s body continues forward.

Head and brain injuries are an especially serious risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains that a traumatic brain injury can affect how the brain works and can cause death or long-term disability. A helmet can reduce some injury risk, but it cannot eliminate the force of a dooring collision and does not replace the legal duty to look before opening a door.

Dooring also creates a second danger: a rider who tries to avoid the door may be forced into the path of a passing car, bus, or truck. This is why safe bicycle-lane design and adequate separation from parked vehicles matter. The Federal Highway Administration identifies bicycle lanes and separated facilities as proven safety countermeasures, and St. Paul’s bicycle planning documents recognize the importance of a connected, safer network.

Minnesota Law Requires People to Look Before Opening a Vehicle Door

Minnesota Statutes section 169.315 provides that no person may open a motor-vehicle door until it is reasonably safe and can be done without interfering with moving traffic. It also prohibits leaving a door next to moving traffic open longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.

The rule applies to the person opening the door. It does not depend on whether the vehicle is moving. In a civil case, a violation of this safety rule can be important evidence when determining whether the person who opened the door used reasonable care.

THE CORE SAFETY RULE: Before opening a door into a street, bike lane, or travel lane, a driver or passenger must look for approaching bicyclists and other traffic and wait until the door can be opened safely.

Minnesota Law Allows Bicyclists to Avoid the Door Zone

Bicyclists are not required to ride so close to parked cars that an opening door puts them in danger. Under Minnesota Statutes section 169.222, a person riding a bicycle may move farther left when reasonably necessary to avoid vehicles, fixed objects, surface hazards, narrow lanes, and other unsafe conditions. The statute also allows bicyclists to determine how close to the curb or edge is safe under the circumstances.

This matters because insurers sometimes try to blame a bicyclist for not riding close enough to parked vehicles or for occupying more of the lane. The roadway evidence, lane width, parking configuration, bicycle position, sight lines, and available escape space should be analyzed before anyone accepts that argument.

Does the Lack of a Traffic Citation Prevent a Wrongful-Death Case?

No. A traffic citation and a civil wrongful-death claim serve different purposes and apply different legal standards. Police may decide not to cite someone based on the information available at the scene, prosecutorial standards, or an investigation that is still incomplete. A civil claim asks whether a person or entity failed to use reasonable care and whether that failure caused harm.

A civil investigation can obtain and analyze evidence that may not be reflected in an initial police report, including witness interviews, scene measurements, surveillance footage, vehicle-door geometry, bicycle damage, phone records, medical records, and testimony from crash-reconstruction or human-factors experts. The absence of an arrest or ticket should never be treated as a final finding that no one was legally responsible.

What Evidence Should Be Preserved After a Fatal Dooring Crash?

Evidence can disappear quickly. Businesses and residences may overwrite camera footage within days. Vehicle repairs can change door alignment or erase marks. A bicycle can be moved, discarded, or repaired. Witnesses’ memories become less precise over time. A prompt preservation effort should consider:

• The bicycle, helmet, clothing, shoes, lights, bags, and any damaged personal property, preserved in their post-crash condition.
• The involved vehicle, including the door, hinges, mirror, window, interior handle, warning systems, and any physical marks or transferred material.
• Police reports, diagrams, photographs, body-camera video, in-car video, 911 audio, dispatch records, and supplemental reports.
• Doorbell, residential, business, traffic, transit, and vehicle-camera footage from the area and approach routes.
• Witness names, full contact information, recorded statements, and precise descriptions of what each witness could see.
• Bicycle-computer, fitness-app, GPS, phone, smartwatch, and location data that may show speed, route, braking, or timing.
• The driver’s and occupants’ phone records and relevant digital activity, when legally obtainable.
• Scene measurements, parking dimensions, lane width, road markings, visibility, lighting, grade, weather, foliage, and sight obstructions.
• Medical, emergency, hospital, and death-investigation records documenting injury, treatment, consciousness, pain, and cause of death.
• Insurance policies and ownership, employment, or agency information that may identify every responsible party and coverage source.

The City of St. Paul explains how to request police reports, body-camera footage, 911 transcripts, photographs, and other public records. Some records may be temporarily unavailable while an investigation remains active, which makes a timely, properly framed request and preservation notice important.

Who May Be Legally Responsible?

Responsibility depends on the evidence. In a typical dooring investigation, the first question is whether the person who opened the door checked for approaching traffic and waited until it was safe. Other potential issues may include:

• Whether the vehicle was legally and safely parked.
• Whether a passenger, rather than the driver, opened the door.
• Whether the vehicle owner or an employer bears responsibility under the facts and applicable law.
• Whether a commercial driver, delivery operation, rideshare trip, or work activity was involved.
• Whether street design, parking placement, construction, signage, or a dangerous road condition contributed to the crash.
• Whether another vehicle forced the bicyclist toward the parked car or prevented an evasive move.
• Whether an insurer asserts comparative fault and whether physical evidence actually supports that assertion.

Minnesota follows a modified comparative-fault rule. Under Minnesota Statutes section 604.01, a claimant may recover when the claimant’s fault is not greater than the fault of the person from whom recovery is sought, although damages are reduced by the claimant’s percentage of fault. In a fatal bicycle case, insurers may try to shift blame to the rider. A careful reconstruction can be critical to testing those claims.

Can Ricki Larson’s Family Bring a Minnesota Wrongful-Death Claim?

Minnesota law permits a wrongful-death action when a death is caused by another person’s wrongful act or omission. Under Minnesota Statutes section 573.02, a court-appointed trustee brings the claim for the benefit of the surviving spouse and next of kin.

A wrongful-death claim is not only about bills. It can address the full pecuniary loss to the family, including the value of lost financial support, services, assistance, advice, guidance, care, protection, and companionship, as supported by the facts and Minnesota law. The statute also permits recovery of damages that arose from the injury before death, and funeral expenses are paid from a recovery before distribution.

Every family structure is different. The trustee process, identification of next of kin, allocation of a recovery, liens, probate questions, and potential survival claims should be handled carefully so that the family’s rights are protected from the beginning.

What Is the Time Limit for a Minnesota Bicycle Wrongful-Death Claim?

Minnesota’s wrongful-death statute generally requires an action to be started within three years after the date of death and, in most non-medical cases, no more than six years after the act or omission causing the death. Other claims, defendants, notice requirements, insurance deadlines, and exceptions may have different or much shorter deadlines.

DO NOT WAIT FOR THE THREE-YEAR DATE The practical deadline for protecting evidence is often days or weeks, not years. Video can be overwritten, vehicles can be repaired, and witnesses can become difficult to locate. A family can speak with counsel without committing to file a lawsuit.

Could Minnesota No-Fault Benefits Apply to a Bicyclist?

Potentially. Minnesota’s no-fault system provides basic economic-loss benefits for qualifying injuries arising from the maintenance or use of a motor vehicle. Section 65B.44 describes categories such as medical expense, income loss, replacement services, survivor benefits, and funeral benefits. Sections 65B.46 and 65B.47 address entitlement and which policy may be first in line.

Coverage in a parked-vehicle dooring case can be fact-specific, especially when deciding whether the injury arose from vehicle use and which policy has priority. The family should not assume that no-fault benefits are unavailable simply because the bicyclist was not inside a motor vehicle or because the vehicle was parked.

What Should a Family Do After a Fatal Bicycle Crash?

1. Preserve the physical evidence. Do not repair, dispose of, clean, test ride, or release the bicycle, helmet, clothing, or electronic devices without documenting them and obtaining legal advice.
2. Request and preserve records immediately. Seek police records, 911 and dispatch materials, video, photographs, and witness information. Send preservation notices before private surveillance systems overwrite footage.
3. Avoid recorded insurance statements and broad releases. An insurer may request a recorded statement, medical authorization, property release, or quick settlement before the family knows the full evidence and coverage. Have counsel review these requests.
4. Identify every insurance policy. This may include the vehicle policy, household auto policies, umbrella coverage, commercial coverage, employer policies, and other potentially applicable insurance.
5. Document the person, not only the collision. Preserve photographs, family history, work records, volunteer activities, routines, caregiving, household contributions, advice, relationships, and the many ways the person supported others.
6. Speak with a lawyer who understands bicycle cases. Bicycle position, door-zone hazards, vehicle-door mechanics, road design, and rider behavior require analysis that differs from a routine two-car crash.

Why Bicycle-Crash Experience Matters

A serious bicycle case can turn on details that are easy to miss: where the bicycle was positioned, how far the door opened, whether the rider had a safe escape route, where impact marks appear, how a bicycle responds to sudden obstruction, and whether an insurer’s reconstruction is physically possible.

The bicycle accident lawyers at Pritzker Hageman include experienced cyclists who understand bicycles as well as litigation. Our team has investigated catastrophic bicycle crashes, worked with reconstruction experts, and represented injured riders and families in bicycle wrongful-death cases. In one case, our lawyers proved that a truck driver’s account did not fit the physical evidence and obtained a $2,469,339 jury verdict for the family of a bicyclist who was killed. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, but they show the importance of a thorough investigation and trial preparation.

Attorney Eric Hageman is a Minnesota trial lawyer and cyclist who handles catastrophic injury and wrongful-death cases. The firm’s bicycle team can evaluate the crash, identify evidence and insurance, retain qualified experts when needed, and explain the family’s options without pressure.

How Drivers Can Prevent Dooring Crashes

The most important prevention step is simple: look before opening. Drivers and passengers should check mirrors, turn their head to inspect the blind area, and wait for bicyclists, scooters, motorcycles, and other traffic to pass. Opening the driver door with the far hand – often called the Dutch Reach – naturally turns the person’s body toward approaching traffic.

• Check the side mirror and look over your shoulder before touching the door handle.
• Open the door slowly and only after confirming the lane is clear.
• Warn passengers, especially children and rideshare passengers, to check before opening a street-side door.
• When possible, have passengers exit on the curb side.
• Do not treat a bicycle lane as empty space; it is a travel lane for people on bicycles.
• Keep the door open only as long as necessary.

For bicyclists, riding outside the door zone may be the safest option when parked vehicles are present. The CDC’s bicycle-safety guidance also emphasizes safer street design, visibility, and helmets. Prevention advice should never be used to shift the legal duty away from the person opening a vehicle door.

Frequently Asked Questions About Minnesota Dooring and Wrongful Death

Contact a Minnesota Bicycle Wrongful-Death Lawyer

If your family lost someone in a bicycle crash, you deserve clear answers and a careful investigation. Contact the Pritzker Hageman bicycle accident legal team for a free, confidential consultation. Call 1-888-377-8900 or text 612-261-0856 or reach us online. We can meet with families at our Minneapolis office, by video, at a home or hospital when appropriate, and we represent clients throughout Minnesota and nationwide.

We do not represent Mr. Larson’s family or any other person involved in this incident unless we have entered into a written attorney-client agreement. This article is based on public reporting and is not a conclusion about legal fault.

Sources and Further Reading

• CBS Minnesota: Cyclist dies days after being hit by car door in St. Paul
• KSTP: St. Paul bicyclist dies from injuries after being hit by open car door
• FOX 9: Highland Parkway crash update
• Minnesota Statutes section 169.315 – Opening and closing vehicle door
• Minnesota Statutes section 169.222 – Operation of bicycle
• Minnesota Statutes section 573.02 – Wrongful death
• Minnesota Statutes section 604.01 – Comparative fault
• CDC: Facts about traumatic brain injury
• City of St. Paul: Police records and data requests