Austin officer shoots suspect after high-speed chase
Published 2:15 pm Thursday, April 21, 2016
Austin Police block off a street just off of Fourth Avenue and 19th Street Northeast following a high speed chase that came to an end just inside the police tape Wednesday night. — Photos by Eric Johnson
photodesk@austindailyherald.com
An Austin police officer shot a suspect who rammed his squad car after a high-speed chase through northeast Austin Wednesday night.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the incident that started around 8:10 p.m. when two Austin police officers and a Mower County sheriff’s deputy responded to a report of an erratic driver.
Officers spotted the vehicle driving on the 1900 block of Oakland Avenue East. The subject fled in the vehicle when he spotted law enforcement and a pursuit began.
According to the preliminary investigation, the officers and deputy pursued the male subject’s vehicle through Austin at speeds exceeding 70 mph. The subject’s vehicle stopped about three minutes into the pursuit at Fifth Avenue Northeast and 19th Street Northeast.
When the three squads stopped behind it, the subject put his vehicle into reverse, ramming one of the Austin police officers’ vehicles. That officer fired at the subject, striking him. The subject again attempted to flee but was stopped near the intersection of Fourth Avenue Northeast and 19th Street Northeast when the sheriff’s deputy used a PIT — or precision immobilization technique — maneuver.
The subject was taken by ambulance to the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Austin and then to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, where he is being treated for a non-life threatening injury.
No officers were injured during the incident. The Austin Police Department officer who fired his or her weapon is on standard administrative leave.
BCA crime scene personnel are collecting evidence at the scene. Investigators are conducting interviews with those involved and with witnesses to the incident. The BCA is reviewing evidence and squad car videos.
Additional information about the officers and the subject will be released once the initial round of interviews is complete.
The BCA is conducting the investigation at the request of the Austin Police Department. When the investigation is complete, the BCA will turn its findings over to the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office for review.
