UPDATED: Golden Valley, Plymouth and Maple Grove Police Involved in High-Speed Chase

At about 6:40 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, Golden Valley Police responded to a report of a residential burglary in progress at the 500 block of Meadow Lane North in Golden Valley, according to Golden Valley Crime Analyst Joanne Paul.

When police arrived at the scene, Paul said three suspects got in a vehicle and fled the area. Officers pursued the car.

Paul later confirmed that the truck used to flee the scene was stolen from St. Paul.

"The pursuit continued for 17 miles," Paul said. "Officers from Golden Valley, Plymouth, Maple Grove and Hennepin County Sheriff's Office were involved."

According to audio obtained by the Facebook site Police Clips, police chased suspects north on County Road 101 through County Road 47 in Plymouth and Bass Lake Road in Maple Grove.

Halfway through the audio feed, police reported that "metal pieces" were "flying" off the wheel of the car in pursuit.

According to audio, the suspects drove "off into the woods" near Shutte Road and Country Road 101 in Maple Grove.

Paul said police arrested three suspects, one juvenile male and two adult males, when the car came to a stop at the intersection of County Road 101 and 87th Avenue in Maple Grove. No injuries were reported.

Charges are forthcoming, according to Paul.

Patch Users Take to Facebook

The ruckus of the police chase had many Patch users worried, and they used Facebook to report what they saw.

On the Maple Grove Patch Facebook page, Wendy Hudson said that police drove past her house. "What appears to be a high speed chase just went past my house, going north on 101 near Weaver Lake," Hudson wrote. "There was one car trailing a rooster tail of sparks followed by at least 6 police cars with lights and sirens."

Also on Facebook, Linda Spotts wrote, "We saw it on highway 101 - there had to be about 15 police and sheriff calls chasing the vehicle. Sparks flying everywhere from the blown out tire. The vehicle crashed in the woods just north of Rush Creek Elementary. Good thing it wasn't a little later in the day when kids would have been crossing the highway to go to school!"

Mike Olmstead commented, "The truck flew by me on WB 55 with sparks flying & GV & Mpls police cars behind it. Surprised no one was clipped by the truck."

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UPDATED 6:30 p.m., Nov. 15:

On Nov. 15, Crime Analyst Joanne Paul sent out a recap of the high-speed police chase to subscribers of the Neighborhood WatchBlog. In Paul's account of the event, she wrote:

Tuesday morning started out with a crime-crushing adrenaline rush for a few of our officers.  Around 6:40 AM, a resident on the 500 block of Meadow Ln N (Zone 8 – North Tyrol Neighborhood), called 911 stating that someone was attempting to break into her home. She was able to provide a clothing description of one of the suspects, the type of vehicle they were driving, and their direction of travel.

Officers flooded the area, knowing the suspects still had to be close. Officer Staaf soon found the vehicle concealed in the driveway of a home on Westwood Dr N, occupied by the suspects. Apparently the suspects thought by backing into someone’s driveway, the officers wouldn’t notice them. Of course, they had forgotten to turn off the headlights, so they weren’t hard for the officers to spot. 

As the officer approached the vehicle, the suspects sped away and Officers Staaf and Boelter gave chase. The suspects traveled westbound (through the park), south on Ottawa Ave N, and onto westbound Glenwood. The pursuit continued to westbound Hwy 55 into Plymouth and then northbound on Hwy 101 into Maple Grove. During the pursuit, one of the front tires on the stolen pickup (Oh … did I forget to mention the pickup truck the suspects were driving was stolen from St Paul??) was blown and soon they were driving on the rim of the tire, causing sparks to fly from behind the vehicle. It was quite a sight for rush-hour commuters. 

After 17 miles, the pursuit ended when the suspect vehicle left the road and the three suspects were taken into custody with the assistance of Plymouth Officer Bill Dane and his K9 partner, Odie. No one was injured during the pursuit, and we are happy to say all three suspects (one juvenile male and two adult males) have all been arrested and charges are pending.  

KUDOS!! to the homeowner who wasted no time in calling 911 and providing a suspect and vehicle description, allowing officers to take three more bad guys off the street (at least for now).

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