A St. Paul man was sentenced Friday to nearly nine years in prison for driving high on cocaine and crashing his speeding SUV into a pediatric and palliative care doctor who was on his way to work, killing the 40-year-old husband and father of three young children in Arden Hills in 2021.

Norman Darnell Toney, 36, had pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court to criminal vehicular homicide, gross negligence, in connection with the Nov. 9, 2021, crash  that killed Daniel Schnobrich, who was remembered Friday in court as a man dedicated to his family and to his profession.

Daniel Schnobrich (Courtesy of his family)

Schnobrich had just left his Arden Hills home to work a night shift at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center. Schnobrich took night shifts so he could spend his days with his kids, who were ages 4, 6 and 7 at the time of the crash, his father, Jeffrey Schnobrich, said in court.

“Dan was going to be sure he was there for his kids,” he said. “Except, now he’s gone.”

Toney’s SUV plowed into Schnobrich’s Toyota Camry at such a high speed that his seat belt broke and he was ejected from his car. Schnobrich died less than five hours later.

“It is amazing Dan survived the few hours he did,” his father said. “Accident? No. Homicide? Yes. I am anxious of (Toney), who made so many bad decisions that night, causing so much pain for me and my loved ones.”

A charge of fleeing police and criminal vehicular homicide under the influence of a controlled substance was dismissed as part of a plea agreement Toney reached with prosecutors in August.

Prosecutor Nelson Rhodus, noting Toney’s lengthy criminal record, asked Judge Elena Ostby to give him the statutory maximum 10 years in prison.

Toney’s attorney, Cara Gilbert, asked the judge for a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines and to place Toney on probation and place him into an intensive residential treatment services facility for mental health and chemical dependency treatment.

Norman Darnell Toney (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Toney has prior felony convictions for burglary and assault. His criminal record also includes two convictions for driving while impaired, three for driving with a revoked license and one for violating an order for protection.

Ostby noted how Toney was put on probation in 2009 and 2014 for his prior DWI offenses. “The court cannot on these facts find that the defendant is amenable to probation,” she said before giving Toney a 105-month sentence.

“The court does find that Mr. Toney’s actions on the night in question were reckless and demonstrated reckless disregard for human life,” she said. “They were extremely reckless.”

‘Catastrophic crash’

According to the criminal complaint, around 8:36 p.m. a Roseville police officer was on patrol when he noticed a dark-colored car weaving in and out of traffic in an aggressive manner at a high rate of speed on Snelling Avenue near County Road C.

The officer, driving an unmarked car, activated squad lights, but the car accelerated away. The officer turned off the lights and continued to follow, losing sight of the car near County Road F where Snelling Avenue turns into Hamline Avenue.

Shortly after, Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies responded to the intersection of County Road 96 and Hamline in Arden Hills for a “catastrophic crash.” The site was about a mile from where the Roseville officer lost sight of the car.

Upon arrival, deputies found what appeared to be a single car crash. The front end of a Toyota Camry and its driver’s door had been sheared off. The Camry’s engine block was hanging out of the passenger side of the car.

Toney was at the scene, running shoeless back and forth from a pond to the Camry. He had facial injuries and blood on his face and hands. He refused to comply with police commands, so he was arrested.

Police found the car Toney had been driving, a brown Cadillac SRX, upside down in the pond. When it was pulled from the water, investigators noted that the speedometer was stuck at 103 mph.

Both Toney and Schnobrich were transported to Regions Hospital. Toney was treated for minor injuries. Schnobrich was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m. the next day.

Victim impact statements

Schnobrich grew up in Waconia, Minn., and wanted to be a physician from the time he was in his young kid, his father said. He studied biochemistry at Iowa State University, attended University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Minnesota.

Schnobrich married his wife, Rachel, in 2013.

Schnobrich’s sister, Jennifer Schnobrich, said in court Friday that Rachel “is too devastated” to appear and read her statement. She read it for her.

Dan was an “amazing spouse” and they had a “beautiful marriage,” Rache said. “I loved and admired him deeply. What a gift to have loved someone like that. And what a gift to have been loved like that.”

Their children “were the luckiest kids in the world to get him,” she said. “He loved them so much and they were completely in love with him. Watching them suffer is worse than experiencing my own.”

Andrew Olson said he first met Schnobrich while they were resident physicians at the U of M. Schnobrich was a year ahead in training “and one of those residents that everyone looked up to,” Olson said in a statement read by Schnobrich’s father.

Schnobrich and Olson both joined the faculty of the U of M’s medical school after finishing their residency training. Schnobrich saw his patients at University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital.

“Dan’s passion for medicine, his colleagues, learning and caring for patients was infectious,” said Olson, the university’s director of hospital medicine. “And he was an incredible physician. He consistently went out of his way to help the team, and to go the extra mile for his patients.”

Schnobrich was among the first people in Minnesota and the nation to be interested in the use of ultrasound by hospital medicine physicians to rapidly and accurately diagnose patients’ health problems, Olson said.

“Dan was a one-of-a-kind physician, teacher, researcher and colleague, and his loss continues to reverberate through our group and the community of medicine in Minnesota and beyond,” Olson said.

‘Made a terrible decision’

Schnobrich’s father said he remains angry with Toney, “the man who caused my son’s death who will eventually be released and reunited with his family. But my family will never be whole again.”

Toney apologized to Schnobrich’s family and friends in court, saying: “I never meant for this tragedy to happen. I accept full responsibility for my actions. I understand I made a terrible decision that day to use drugs and decide to get behind the wheel impaired and drive.”

“Predictable is preventable,” Ostby said before handing down Toney’s prison sentence.

“This tragic accident is not an accident,” she said. “It didn’t have to happen.”

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