Star Tribune Article dated 7-31-2006Dad's plea to pull over comes too late
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Dad's plea to pull over comes too late
The onetime star swimmer and social butterfly, whose life was
derailedby a stroke, died in a crash after a police chase.
Tom Ford, Star Tribune
Last update: July 31, 2006 - 10:59 AM
"Pull over, Jenna. Just please
pull over," Ken Sorensen
implored his only child by cell
phone Saturday night.
His daughter, 22, had just called
to tell her father that she was
being chased by police on
Interstate Hwy. 35. She told him
that she loved him and that "she
was sorry."
Ken Sorensen never got a
response to his plea.
Jenna Sorensen was killed about
7 p.m. Saturday when her car
crashed into a bridge support on
I-35 near the Harris, Minn., exit
in Chisago County.
The State Patrol released few
details about the crash Sunday
other than to confirm that a
trooper had attempted to pull
Sorensen over for speeding.
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Jenna Sorensen
Family photo
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"The patrol will be doing a
thorough investigation of the entire incident," Lt. Mark Peterson said
Sunday.
Ken Sorensen said that authorities have told him that the officers
involved in the chase did attempt to back off before the crash.
Sorensen said Jenna may have sped away because she had received
several traffic tickets in the past and was fearful that another one
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http://www.startribune.com/462/story/584514.htmi 8/2/2006
Dad's plea to pull over comes too late
would mean she'd lose her license.
He now hopes that his daughter's life -- one once filled with promise
that was derailed and left in turmoil by a stroke she suffered at the
age of 14 -- will not be forgotten.
"I just don't want this incident to be the bookmark of her life," he
said Sunday from his home in Chanhassen. "She was a good, loving
person."
As a young teen, Jenna Sorensen was among the top swimmers in
the state and had designs on becoming an attorney.
She took great pride in making many friends -- an ability she put on
display on the family's frequent camping trips.
"She would have a contest with me, if I could get the tent up before
she got back with some friend," Ken Sorensen said. "She would just
about always beat me."
That social butterfly vanished in December 1997. Given a diagnosis
of Crohn's disease a month earlier, she had a stroke about two weeks
before Christmas.
Initially, she was not expected to live, Ken Sorensen said.
A harsh and never-ending recovery followed. While most of Jenna
Sorensen's physical abilities returned, she had short-term memory
problems, a "slowness" in how her mind processed things, and
severe problems relating to and talking with others.
Jenna knew how much she had changed and often succumbed to
depression and anger, her father said.
"I think people couldn't always understand what she was going
through," said her cousin David Madsen.
In recent months, things had gotten more hopeful. She had been
living on her own in an apartment in Minnetonka since February,
and she had just restarted working in the office of a Minneapolis
roofing company where her father works.
"She seemed to be so happy," her father said.
Earlier this year, Jenna s mother, Peg Sorensen, published a book,
"Stroked: From the Pool to the Picu: A Teenage Girl's Real Life
Tragedy," about her daughters struggles.
Her parents had hoped the book would be their "happy ending," Ken
Sorensen said.
When Ken Sorensen saw his daughter Saturday morning, she told
him she planned to go to workout and stop by her parents' home for
dinner.
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Dad's plea to pull over comes too late
But her mood deteriorated, and in the late afternoon she called to say
she was frustrated and unhappy. Ken Sorensen arranged to meet her
at her apartment. She never made it.
"She was a good kid," he said. "I loved her very much. I'm glad that
she's at peace now.
Tom Ford • 612-673-4921
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http://www.startribune.com/462/story/584514.htm] 8/2/2006