Dakota County prosecutors on Wednesday charged a convict with four felony counts in connection with a chase through Hastings that ended with officers shooting the man.
At the time of the chase, overnight Dec. 2-3, Roman Tokarev, 27, was on intensive supervised release from prison after an armed robbery conviction. He had stolen his brother-in-law's pickup truck in Elk River and left behind two notes, including one that said, "I'm on a suicide mission," according to a criminal complaint filed in Dakota County District Court.
The other note said that he wasn't going back to prison and that he had recently gotten a handgun.
"I'm going all the way out once they pull me over," Tokarev allegedly wrote. "I'm going to shoot them until I run out of bullets."
A search by officers with the state Fugitive Apprehension Unit, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Dakota County Sheriff's Office and Hastings police eventually found Tokarev heading north on Hwy. 61 in Hastings. Officers followed the truck and tried to pull it over.
The complaint said that officers boxed in the truck but that Tokarev began driving forward and backward, ramming two law enforcement vehicles. An officer saw the pickup driver raise what looked like a gun, then lower it in the direction of the officer. That officer fired his gun.
Tokarev allegedly kept ramming the vehicles and eventually opened enough space to get out. A Hastings officer fired multiple shots, but the truck sped away.
Near Hwy. 61 and Fourth Street, a deputy rammed the pickup truck, forcing it to spin and stop. Other law enforcement vehicles blocked Tokarev from driving away, the complaint said.
