A report of shots being fired in a north Minneapolis neighborhood early Thursday prompted a car to flee responding police officers and crash into another vehicle, authorities said.
As it turned out, said police Sgt. Stephen McCarty, the car had nothing to do with any gunfire but fled because one of its three occupants was a wanted violent felon.
According to McCarty, sometime after 2 a.m., a police squad car showed up near 33rd and Dupont Avenues N. to check on a report of shots fired. A car with three men inside took off and police pursued.
The car soon crashed into another vehicle, and a 26-year-old Minneapolis man in the car ran from the wreckage.
The two men left in the car were arrested, and the one who ran was quickly nabbed.
All three were checked out at a hospital for injuries. The driver, a 20-year-old from Burnsville, is being held on suspicion of fleeing police in a motor vehicle. The man who ran was cited and released.
The third man, 21-year-old Dejaun Washington, of Minneapolis, is being held on a felony warrant for his arrest. Washington is accused of violating terms of his supervised release last month from St. Cloud prison, where he served time for first-degree assault of a child.
PAUL WALSH
