Police pursuit of a stolen Kia in the west metro over the weekend ended with the fleeing vehicle crashing through a highway fence in Edina and its four young occupants taken to the hospital, officials said.
Video: Police pursuit of 4 juveniles in stolen Kia ends with crash through highway fence in Edina
The SUV's occupants — ages 15 to 17 — were taken to HCMC, officials said.
August 14, 2023 at 2:13PM
The crash occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday near an entrance ramp from France Avenue onto eastbound Hwy. 62, said Eden Prairie police spokeswoman Joyce Lorenz.
The pursuit began when sheriff's deputies from Carver County asked Eden Prairie police to assist with the pursuit of the Kia SUV, which was fleeing while accompanied by a Toyota Camry, Lorenz said.
Eden Prairie officers spotted the two vehicles speeding eastbound on Hwy. 212 near Prairie Center Drive, Lorenz said.
The SUV drove over "stop sticks" put on the highway by the State Patrol, veered to the right, crashed through a fence and spun into a tree, the spokeswoman said.
Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic video showed numerous law enforcement vehicles converge on the wreckage and officers emerging with guns drawn.
"The four juvenile occupants were taken into custody and transported to Hennepin Healthcare for evaluation," Lorenz said. There has been no further word on the seriousness of their injuries.
On Monday, Lorenz said that two of those arrested were 16 years old, one was 17 and one was 15. None have been charged in either Carver or Hennepin counties as of the end of the business day Monday.
The Camry, later determined by police to also be stolen, continued to flee east on Hwy. 62 without being caught, she said.
Kias and Hyundais have been easy pickings in Minnesota and across the nation in recent years for thieves to steal, often for the opportunity to joyride or drive recklessly.
Late Monday afternoon, Minnesota's Keith Ellison said he and six fellow attorneys general in the United States are urging the federal court overseeing a consumer class-action settlement involving Hyundai and Kia to strengthen the terms by requiring the companies to recall or buy back their theft-prone vehicles and equip them with engine-immobilizer technology that they currently lack.
"This issue is simple," Ellison said in a statement. "Too many Kia and Hyundai vehicles lack industry-standard anti-theft technology that nearly every other vehicle in America has. Because Kia and Hyundai continue to refuse to voluntarily recall these vehicles and install at their own expense the technology the vehicles should have had in the first place, public safety in Minnesota and across the country is still at risk."
Ellison's statement pointed out that Kias and Hyundais stolen last year in Minneapolis were involved in five homicides, 13 shootings, 36 robberies and 265 crashes. He said that one of the crashes, in December, proved fatal for a 14-year-old boy who was behind the wheel of a Kia near N. 39th Avenue and Upton avenues.
The other attorneys general signing on with Ellison are from the District of Columbia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.
“This was certainly not an outcome that we were hoping would materialize, and we know that today’s path forward does not provide a perfect solution,” interim OCM director Charlene Briner said Wednesday.
