NORTHWEST MINNESOTA: Man slips handcuffs, steals police car
9/30/04 - By Stephen J. Lee - Herald Staff Writer
Three men were in the Roseau County jail Wednesday after two of them fled an early morning party in Warroad, Minn., in a police cruiser, ditched it and hid in the fields and woods for hours while being hunted.
The incident began about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday when a man reported being assaulted by two men in a Warroad house.
When police arrived at the house, they saw people inside, but the lights suddenly went out, and no one would answer the door, said Warroad Police Chief Laurence Wright. After obtaining a search warrant, officers from the police department, the Roseau County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Border Patrol entered the house and found seven men - including the two alleged assailants - and one woman.
Officers handcuffed the two alleged assailants and put them in the back seat of a police car. Others also were handcuffed and placed in other law enforcement vehicles. While the house was being searched, one of the two alleged assailants slipped out of his handcuffs, jumped into the front seat of the police cruiser and sped away, with the other man still in the back seat, Wright said.
"The handcuffs were placed on him properly, but he was a small man and was able to slip his hands out," Wright said.
Officers pursued the stolen squad car east of Warroad about two miles, where the suspects lost control of it, driving into a ditch. The two men fled on foot into the adjoining woods and fields.
More than a dozen officers from several agencies, including the Roseau County Mounted Posse and a Border Patrol helicopter, cordoned off the area and searched for hours.
"We apprehended the second suspect about 11 a.m.," Wright said.
The Minnesota State Patrol, Lake of the Woods Sheriff's Office and the Roseau Police Department also assisted the search.
No one was hurt in the arrests and searches; the suspects had no weapons, and no shots were fired, Wright said.
The victim of the initial alleged assault, who said he was beaten with "some kind of stick," was treated and released from the local emergency room early Wednesday, Wright said.
The two alleged assailants and a third man from the house were arrested and remain in the Roseau jail, scheduled to make court appearances today, Wright said.
He expects them to face several charges, including fleeing police, theft of a police vehicle and third-degree assault, but until formal charges are filed, Wright declined to release their names.