Continued: South metro police blotter

Apple Valley

MARCH 19

Burglary. An apartment in the 12600 block of Garner Way was burglarized. Someone forced entry into an apartment and stole electronic equipment.

Robbery. At 10 p.m., a man entered the Oasis Market, 14050 Pilot Knob Rd. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and had a green bandana over his face. He brandished a knife and pointed it at the clerk, ordering the clerk to lie down on the floor. He then helped himself to the cash in the register and cigarettes before running out of the store. The case is under investigation.

MARCH 20

Theft. A laptop was stolen from a classroom at Westview Elementary School between 3:35 and 3:50 p.m.. The classroom was unoccupied at the time.

MARCH 22

Theft. A woman's purse was stolen while she was at the Minnesota Zoo. The woman left her stroller unattended with the purse in the stroller.

MARCH 25

Public assist. Around 12:30 a.m., Officer Adam Tschida went to an apartment where a man in a wheelchair was requesting help. Tschida said the man explained that his foot itched and that his foot salve was on the floor and he couldn't reach it. The man told Tschida that he hated to call, but was desperate and didn't know what else to do.

Burnsville

MARCH 9

Property damage. Two house windows were shot out with what appeared to be a BB gun in the first block of Horizon Heights Road.

Eagan

FEB. 1

Drunken driving. Around 10:40 a.m., a suspicious vehicle was observed in the parking lot of a local restaurant. Officers responded and discovered the driver was passed out behind the wheel of the car. The suspect's foot was on the brake, but the car was still in drive. Officers were able to determine the suspect was under the influence of a controlled substance and was arrested for driving under the influence. This was the suspect's third DUI arrest.

Lakeville

MARCH 20

Robbery. Police arrested a 47-year-old Minneapolis man minutes after a Lakeville bank was robbed. The incident started when the Lakeville Police Department received a report of a bank robbery at the Citizens State Bank at

1:44 p.m. with the lone suspect fleeing the bank in a pickup truck. The Dakota Communications Center relayed a description of the suspect and the suspect vehicle to the responding officers. Within a few minutes, Officer Chris Gartzke spotted a truck matching the description of the suspect vehicle traveling northbound on Interstate 35W, just south of the intersection with Hwy. 13. Officer Gartzke, who was assisted by Burnsville police, initiated a traffic stop, and the man was taken into custody without incident.

MARCH 14 -- 20

Robbery. Lakeville officers were dispatched to a strong arm robbery. Upon arrival, the officers learned that two teenagers were riding their bikes when they were robbed by three men. The suspects stole the boys' wallets and cell phones. One of the suspects also punched one of the teenagers and pushed the other one over. The dispatch center aired the description of the suspect vehicle and an officer located the vehicle on Dodd Boulevard, just north of County Road 50. The driver bailed out when the vehicle came to a stop and ran away. Two men remained in the vehicle. A passerby stopped and informed the officer that the fleeing suspect ran across Dodd Boulevard and went into a grocery store. Two investigators arrived and arrested the suspect in the grocery store. When the investigators came to assist, they had been working on the investigation of an unoccupied stolen vehicle that was recovered from the previous night and had been towed to the police department. When the robbery suspect they arrested was searched in the back lot of the police department, one of the investigators found a set of car keys in his pocket. The investigator pressed the locking button on the key, and the lights and horn of one vehicle in the police parking lot went off. It was a stolen vehicle recovered the night before. The robbery suspect had stolen vehicle charges added.

Northfield

MARCH 15

Property damage. A vehicle was spray-painted black while it was parked and unattended overnight in the 300 block of S. Division Street.

MARCH 23

Animal complaint. An officer helped remove an possum from a live trap in a basement in the 800 block of St. Olaf Avenue.

Prior Lake

MARCH 16

Suspicious activity. Someone reported smoke or steam in the cemetery at the Church of St. Michael, 5437 SE. 160th Street. The incident was unfounded.

Theft. Police received two reports of vandalism to tires in the 2900 block of Center Road.

Driving violation. A vehicle was stopped for loud exhaust near SE. Eagle Creek Avenue and SE. Arcadia Avenue. The driver was cited for illegal exhaust. When the vehicle the left the scene, the driver failed to use his turn signal. He was pulled over again and cited for failure to signal a turn.

Aimee Blanchette • 612-673-1712