Burglary suspect flees police - as he explains to them on phone

Updated: July 22, 2008 - 11:15 PM

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Authorities were searching late Tuesday for a man who led Burnsville police and Minnesota State Patrol officers on a chase through the metro area, into Wisconsin and back.

It began when Burnsville detectives tried to arrest Grayson Lee Clevenger, 27, on suspicion of first-degree burglary.

When detectives went to the Burnsville Parkway apartment complex where Clevenger was reportedly staying, they spotted a man matching his description get into a gray 2005 Dodge Durango. The vehicle had been stolen in Brooklyn Park.

Detectives followed him, but instead of stopping, Clevenger sped up and led police north on Interstate 35E. Burnsville police called off their cars at Hwy. 110, where the chase was picked up by the State Patrol and other agencies.

Clevenger led authorities into Wisconsin before he looped back into Minnesota and abandoned the vehicle in Minneapolis near the University of Minnesota.

Burnsville detectives had called Clevenger's cell phone in hopes of ending the chase peacefully. But Clevenger answered the phone with, "Dude, I can't talk, I'm being chased by the police," and hung up.

ABBY SIMONS