A 31-year-old Minneapolis woman accused of stealing a vehicle in Bloomington said she did so because it was cold outside.
The suspect was arrested during the early morning hours of Dec. 23 after crashing the stolen vehicle on an Interstate 35W overpass, according to Bloomington Police Cmdr. Mike Utecht.
Police officers were dispatched to the 8300 block of Fremont Avenue at approximately 1:45 a.m. Dec. 23 after a 63-year-old Bloomington man reported his 1988 Chrysler New Yorker was stolen while it was warming up in an apartment building parking lot. The victim said a person wearing a black hat entered his vehicle and drove away, traveling south on Fremont Avenue, Utecht explained.
A sergeant patrolling the area spotted the vehicle shortly before 2 a.m. near the intersection of 82nd Street and Fremont Avenue. The officer began to follow the vehicle as it traveled west on 82nd Street and turned onto northbound I-35W. The driver quickly exited onto Interstate 494 East, then exited immediately at Lyndale Avenue and headed south. Another officer joined the pursuit at Lyndale Avenue, where officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop. The driver did not stop, however, and instead turned west on American Boulevard, where she began to accelerate, Utecht said.
Her attempt at outrunning the officers was short lived, as she lost control of the vehicle on the icy I-35W overpass, crossed the median and hit the overpass wall for the eastbound lanes. Officers then conducted a high-risk arrest with no further incident, Utecht noted.
The woman was booked on suspicion of vehicle theft and fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle.
Unlicensed driver
A suspicious vehicle that caught the attention of a patrol officer was being driven by a 33-year-old Bloomington man with a canceled license.
Despite evading police officers at a Bloomington hotel, he was eventually arrested following a short pursuit, and booked on suspicion of first-degree driving while impaired.
The suspect drew attention as he drove past the officer in a silver Nissan Infiniti, headed south on Lyndale Avenue at approximately 11:30 p.m. Dec. 27. The suspect was near the intersection of Lyndale Avenue and American Boulevard when he noticed the officer, who saw the suspect looking at the patrol car. A check of the vehicle’s license plate showed that it was registered to a female, Utecht said.
The suspect quickly turned into the Extended Stay America parking lot, 7956 Lyndale Ave., and exited the vehicle. The officer, upon checking information about the vehicle and its registered owner, learned that the suspect had a connection to the registered owner, and had a canceled license. File photos of the suspect appeared to match the driver of the Infiniti, Utecht explained.
The officer began searching for the suspect inside the hotel, but failed to locate him, Utecht noted.
An officer searching the area spotted the vehicle turning southbound onto Lyndale Avenue from the hotel at approximately 12:10 a.m., however, and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. A short pursuit began, ending near the intersection of 82nd Street and Aldrich Avenue, as the officer conducted a PIT maneuver that sent the Infiniti spinning into a snowbank. Officers at the scene conducted a high-risk arrest, with the suspect having to climb out of a window due to the door being stuck, according to Utecht.
The suspect had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol. He declined field sobriety and breath tests, and was booked on suspicion of first-degree DWI as a result of a previous DWI conviction, driving after cancellation and fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, Utecht said.
Follow Bloomington community editor Mike Hanks on Twitter at @suncurrent and on Facebook at suncurrentcentral.
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