A 34-year-old St. Paul woman is charged with murder in a fatal hit-and-run that occurred during a dispute between two groups of women this week in Maplewood.
Ashley Renee Couch (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Ashley Renee Couch was charged with one count of murder in the second-degree without intent while committing a felony and one count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon (a vehicle), according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court.
Court records show Couch has a lengthy criminal history with numerous convictions, including a misdemeanor conviction in 2011 for child endangerment after authorities said she slammed her 18-day-old baby into a snowbank.
The criminal complaint gave the following details about the Wednesday hit-and-run:
About 9:20 p.m., Maplewood police were called to Larpenteur Avenue and Dieter Street on a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. When they arrived, paramedics were treating a woman who had “catastrophic injuries” that appeared to be consistent with being dragged under a vehicle for an extended distance.
She was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul and pronounced dead 20 minutes later. Maplewood police previously identified her as Zakirrah Laniyah Cheyan Anderson, 23, of Minneapolis.
Investigators said that about 9:15 p.m., three women were parked at Larpenteur and Prosperity Street waiting to fight another group of women. The two groups had 15 minutes earlier arranged the fight to be a few blocks away at Wakefield Park in Maplewood.
The incident was recorded on smartphones and Snapchat video, authorities said.
At one point, the driver of a 2012 dark blue Dodge Charger rammed her vehicle into the open driver’s side door of the three women. Two of them were standing outside the vehicle and were struck by the Charger. One woman was thrown through the air before falling to the ground. Maplewood police previously identified her as Aaliyah Leeanna Joseph, 22, of St. Paul. The second woman — Anderson — was struck by the Charger “and then is no longer visible” as the car drove away.
Two people are heard on camera repeatedly asking “Where’s Ziggy?” and then one screams, “She’s on that car still.”
Investigators said the altercation started earlier when the three women were shot at by the other group of women in St. Paul near Hazelwood Street and Ames Avenue. Because of the shooting, the two groups arranged to meet at Wakefield Park and fight. However, witnesses said that 15 minutes after the groups were supposed to meet, the driver of the Charger told someone, “I’ll hit y’alls ass” before hitting the two women with her vehicle.
After Joseph was struck and thrown, onlookers told her, “Go get your friend” and pointed down the street. Joseph got into the vehicle that had been struck and drove a block down Larpenteur to Dieter Street, where she found Anderson lying in the road.
Meanwhile, authorities received a tip that Couch had been driving the suspect car and had hidden the vehicle after the incident.
Police said that Couch is the registered owner of a 2012 blue Dodge Charger. Authorities on Thursday found the damaged car in an alley.
When Couch was arrested Thursday, she initially claimed she knew nothing about the incident but had seen the Snapchat video and confirmed that the Charger was hers.
Later, she told investigators that she had been at the intersection to watch a fight and that her baby had been in the car with her. She said she tried to leave when people began talking about weapons. Couch said she did see one woman get hit and then get up. Then, after watching the video with investigators, she told them, “I don’t see me hitting no other girl.”
She told police she didn’t stop her car because she was worried the other group was going to violently confront her.
“She denied intentionally hitting anyone,” the criminal complaint said.
Along with the 2011 conviction for throwing her daughter into a snowbank, Couch has previous felony convictions, including one of a drive-by shooting, terrorist threats and second-degree assault. She is on felony probation in Dakota County for a check forgery conviction.
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