Threat empties Elk River school About 1,800 students at Elk River High School had to leave the building Wednesday after a bomb threat was phoned in to the school. They were taken to a church and middle school about 11 a.m. Dogs surveyed the school building but turned up nothing, said Elk River Police Chief Jeff Beahen. Students were sent home.
BOB VON STERNBERG
Hutchinson teen dies after crash A teenager has died after his car crossed into oncoming traffic and struck an SUV in McLeod County, authorities said. Christopher Lee Spears, 18, of Hutchinson, Minn., died Tuesday of injuries suffered in the wreck a day earlier. The crash occurred about 3:25 p.m. Monday on Page Avenue in Hasson Valley Township. The SUV driver, Ralph A. Plath, 67, of Hutchinson, suffered noncritical injuries.
PAUL WALSH
Trial date set for former coach A trial date of Sept. 13 has been set for the former girls' hockey coach at Park of Cottage Grove High School, who is charged with serving liquor to two 16-year-old players he had coached and having sex with them at his former home in Woodbury. Eric P. Darwitz, 31, of Oakdale, was charged in May with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct by a person of authority. Another man involved in the alleged 2006 incident was not charged because, unlike Darwitz, he hadn't been in a position of authority over the girls.
JIM ANDERSON
Officers and dog nab bank robber A bank robber was hunted down in St. Louis Park with the help of a police dog Monday as he tried to flee, authorities said. The 28-year-old man is being held on suspicion of robbing the Wells Fargo Bank at 8600 Hwy. 7. Officers called to the scene found the suspect fleeing in a vehicle. With police in pursuit, the suspect crashed into an unoccupied vehicle parked near 28th Street and Sumter Avenue, police said. Soon after, he ran toward an apartment complex in the 2700 block of Louisiana Court. Aided by a K-9 unit from the Edina Police Department, St. Louis Park officers apprehended the suspect.
PAUL WALSH
