Four men with guns and drugs were not on police radar until they sped by an officer at more than 117 miles per hour early Tuesday in Hermantown, Minn.
Suspects flee Hermantown police at 117 miles per hour, crash car
Police were looking for different vehicle when suspects sped by.
July 20, 2016 at 3:44AM
Police were parked on the side of the road, hoping to stop a vehicle carrying a woman seen hanging out the window, when the officers saw the car speeding south on Miller Trunk Hwy. near Hwy. 194 at 2:05 a.m. That set off a 6 ½-mile pursuit that ended when the men crashed into a rock outcropping near Duluth, said Deputy Chief Shawn Padden.
"We set up in the area. We saw it and thought this was the car we are chasing," Padden said. "It was in the same place at the same time. It ended up not being the car we were looking for."
Deputies from the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office had radioed to Hermantown police asking for help locating a speeding car heading south on Hwy. 53 near Munger Shaw Road. The car allegedly had a woman screaming and hanging out the window. A Hermantown officer who had parked on the side of Hwy. 53 near Hwy. 194 saw a speeding car approaching and presumed it was the car carrying the woman. The officer attempted to stop the vehicle, but it continued southbound.
The driver, clocked at 117 mph, tried to outrun police but crashed a short time later at 300 Central Entrance. The vehicle caught fire.
Police and firefighters pulled the driver and three passengers from the burning car. The men were in the hospital Tuesday afternoon, recovering from broken bones and other injuries, Padden said.
The officers found guns, spent shell casings and drugs in the vehicle, Padden said.
The case was under investigation.
It was the second high-speed chase in Hermantown this month. On July 10, a man speeding through the city passed an unmarked squad car. The driver led officers on a 35-mile chase before police were able to place stop sticks on the road and puncture the driver's tires at Hwy. 2 and 194. Police used a stun gun to subdue the suspect and then took him to jail, Padden said.
Officers never did find the vehicle with the screaming woman, which prompted the original stakeout.
"Nobody ever found out what happened to her," Padden said.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
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