A high-speed chase shreds lawns, nerves

By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune

Last update: May 12, 2008 - 5:13 AM

Like many people in Minneapolis' Bryant neighborhood, Patty Crawford was outside minding her business on a sunny Mother's Day afternoon. Then she looked up to see an SUV barrelling through her front yard at freeway speed.

Through the flying chunks of what had been her lawn, a screaming flock of squad cars soon appeared.

She quickly called for the kids to take cover. Then there was the deafening smash and the tinkling of shattered glass.

"We all just stood there and whimpered," Crawford said later Sunday afternoon. "Really, any of us could have been in a position to get hurt. It was a miracle we didn't."

One man was jailed and his passenger hospitalized for minor injuries after the chase, which began around 2 p.m. in Plymouth.

Plymouth police officer Kelli Ploumen spotted a stolen Dodge Durango at a Cub Foods store in Plymouth. Ploumen tried to stop the SUV, but the driver fled and the chase was on.

The pursuit, which police said reached speeds of 80 to 100 miles per hour, wound through New Hope and headed south on Hwy. 169 before racing along several Minneapolis thoroughfares, including the northbound lanes of I-35W. After exiting the highway at E. 36th Street, the SUV careened the wrong way into one-way traffic on Park Avenue, tearing up yards for a block before it was rammed by Plymouth squad cars at about 2:30 p.m., near the intersection of E. 41st Street and Columbus Avenue S.

Residents express relief

There was no hiding the weariness in Ashley Coleman's eyes Sunday as she looked back at what was left of her Pontiac Sunfire, its rear bumper smashed into the backseat.

"I'm just glad no kids were out here," she sighed in relief and resignation. "I can't stress the rest of it, I'm just so glad kids didn't get hurt."

They were keenly interested, though, watching as officers from at least four jurisdictions cleaned up the scene, placed the suspect in the back of a squad car and sent the female passenger and Ploumen, a five-year-veteran of the Plymouth department, to North Memorial Medical Center with minor injuries.

"Look at all these kids around here," said Anthony Wilson, 23, shaking his head as he recounted what he saw from his yard at 39th Street and Portland Avenue. "That guy was just cruising, like he was on the freeway."

Dozens of neighbors watched as tow truck teams hauled the SUV, windows shattered and at least one tire shredded like confetti, onto a platform. A Minnesota State Patrol investigator threw the Durango's detached bumper into the back seat.

"How fast is it when a car passes you like that?" said Kelli Richardson, 38, snapping her fingers to describe the speed through the residential street. "It was that fast."

The suspect, who was arrested at gunpoint following the crash, was booked into the Hennepin County jail on at least one charge of receiving stolen property. He was suspected of being wanted on multiple felony warrants, said Sgt. Curtis Smith of the Plymouth Police Department. There was no word on whether his female passenger would be charged.

Smith would not speculate as to whether proper protocol was followed in the midday chase through the city.

"There's a certain amount of judgment used in any chase," he said, adding that the squad cars' dashboard cameras would be reviewed. "I think in any pursuit there's a certain element of danger."

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921