Police in Crookston, Minn., on Sunday released the name of a man killed Saturday when his pickup was hit by a suspect who'd stolen a squad car after being shot with a stun gun and pepper-sprayed to no avail.
Eddie Briggs, 78, of Thief River Falls, Minn., was killed and his wife, Patricia Briggs, 57, was injured in the crash just after 2 p.m. Saturday in the northwestern Minnesota town.
According to Crookston Police Chief Tim Motherway, officers were called to the VFW on N. Main Street on a report that two people were pounding on the complainants' car, demanding money and making threats. One of the suspects talked to police, but the other one, a 23-year-old Crookston man, ignored them and went into the nearby Crooks Club bar.
When they followed him, a fight ensued. In an attempt to subdue him, they shot him with a stun gun, "which had no apparent effect, then pepper-sprayed him, which also had no effect," Motherway said.
The pepper spray, did, however, impair the officers, and as they struggled to recover, he ran outside and commandeered their squad car.
Six blocks away, as he sped south on S. Main Street, he broadsided the pickup, killing Eddie Briggs and injuring his wife. The suspect was able to get out of the squad car and ask a passerby to take him to Riverview Hospital emergency room, where he was arrested, Motherway said.
Patricia Briggs remained hospitalized Sunday in Crookston with noncritical injuries. The 23-year-old suspect was released from the Grand Forks, N.D., hospital where he was being treated, and jailed. Charges are pending.
PAMELA MILLER
