Minneapolis man in car chase, crash is charged

Last update: October 27, 2009 - 8:04 PM

A Minneapolis man was charged Tuesday with fleeing a police officer after allegedly taking officers on a wild ride that began in Richfield, headed north on Interstate 35W and ended with a crash in a south Minneapolis park.

Theodore Lee Cook, 35, is accused of hitting an unmarked police car in a Richfield parking lot and several cars on 35W, according to the criminal complaint. He is also charged in Hennepin County District Court with motor-vehicle theft. He is being held in the county jail in lieu of $20,000 bail and is to appear in court today, according to jail records.

On Saturday, police in unmarked vehicles were following a blue Toyota Camry with a temporary license sticker driven by Cook, looking to arrest him on an outstanding warrant, the complaint said. He pulled into the lot of an apartment complex near 35W and 76th Street, and police called for squad cars, according to the complaint. Cook rammed an unmarked car and fled, getting on 35W, the complaint said.

He left the interstate at Diamond Lake Road and drove across Pearl Park before crashing and fleeing on foot, the complaint said. He was arrested, and officers found that the Camry had been stolen in Maplewood in September and that the license sticker was a fake, the complaint said.

VINCE TUSS

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