Recently in Local News Category

Police looking for a man suspected of robbing a bank
by Dallas Johnson

Bloomington police and the FBI are searching for a man suspected of robbing a bank in Bloomington Tuesday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune said.

The man entered the TCF Bank at Cub Foods at 8423 Lyndale Av. S. around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.  He threw a white bag on the counter and demanded the teller fill it with cash, WCCO reported.

He proceeded to pull out a black, semi-automatic handgun and point it at the wall, according to the FBI.

The man left on foot after receiving an unknown amount of money from the teller.

The suspect was described as a 5 foot 6 inch black male, aged 45 to 50.  He was wearing silver rimmed glasses, a black knit hat, a gray fleece jacket, white shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.

Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 612-376-3200, the Bloomington Police Department at 52-563-4900, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.  Crime Stoppers is also available online at www.crimestoppersmn.org and via text by texting TIP674 and a message to 274637.

Woman dies after car crashes into creek
by Dallas Johnson

A Rogers woman died Wednesday after her car rolled into a creek near Maple Grove Tuesday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Carrie A. Lorman, 22, died Wednesday morning after the accident left her car overturned in a creek Tuesday night.

Lorman was on Interstate 94 around 9 p.m. when she braked to avoid a stalled her car.  Her car ended up on an embankment after she swerved to the right, Capt. Matt Langer, of the Minnesota State Patrol, said.

Her car ended up overturned in the creek for 25 minutes, according to WCCO.

Lorman was taken to the hospital where she was in critical condition.  She died Wednesday morning, Langer said.

Snow was falling at the time of the accident, which is under investigation.

The snowstorm moving across the state has caused the Department of Transportation to urge drivers in southern Minnesota to stay off the road.

Plane with flap problems lands safely
by Dallas Johnson

A Northwest Airlines jet landed safely at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Mich. Satruday after flaps on the plane's wings were unresponsive, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The plane, which carried 47 people, landed in Grand Rapids, where it was scheduled to land, early Saturday morning, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The flaps on the plane apparently would not deploy, according to airport spokesman Bruce Schedlbauer.

This incident comes after another incident involving a United Airlines jet Friday.

That plane, carrying 39 passengers, landed safely Friday afternooon in Kent County's Cascade Township after hydraulic problems forced the plane to land before its scheduled destination.

Police shoot man who stole BMW on I-394
by Dallas Johnson

A 42-year-old man was shot and critically wounded Friday by three Minneapolis police officers after he stole a BMW from the driveway of former WCCO anchor Jeanette Trompeter, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The man was shot in the car around 6 p.m. on Cedar Lake Road North near Interstate 394 on the western edge of the city, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.  Police said the man attempted to ram police cruisers parked on the street in an attempt to escape.  That's when the officers, fearing for their life, fired at the suspect.

The BMW belonged to the boyfriend of former WCCO-TV anchor Jeanette Trompeter.  It had been stolen from her driveway about an hour before the shooting, she said in an interview Friday.

"I was upstairs, and I just heard him yelling, 'No, stop,'" Trompeter said.  "I walked downstairs and saw him chasing the car down the street."

The car was tracked down via a GPS system installed by BMW.  Police encountered the suspect after he left a Burger Jones without paying for his meal.

Police shot the man shortly after the encounter.  The suspect ran the car onto the sidewalk and into a tree.

The man was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center where he was in critical condition.

St. Paul firefighter dies: declared in line of duty

by Dallas Johnson

 

A St. Paul firefighter died Saturday after his heart failed due to a disease he contracted while on the job, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

Ramon Hain came in contact with a patients body fluids in 1997, according to Fire Engineering.  Doctors believe Hain contracted a disease that weakened his heart.

Hain received a heart transplant in 1998 but still had to retire in 2000.  Hain's heart began to fail in recent months.  He was 50.

The St. Paul Fire Department considers Hain's death to be in the line of duty, despite the number of years that have passed since the incident.

This is fire department's first such death in 20 years.  Hain's name will be inscribed on the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Maryland.

Hain did not know he would be honored before he died.   "I think that would really touch him," his wife, Gail, said.

Hain, who was also an emergency medical technician, described what happened to the Pioneer Press about four months before getting sick.

"I responded to a cardiac arrest call during which I knelt down over the person and came in contact with body fluids on the floor," he said. "I'd had a sore on my knee at the time, and a few days later I developed some kind of massive infection in the thigh of that same leg."

Hain is survived by his wife; daughters Rachel, 14, and Sara,12; father Edward Hain, of Olathe, Kan.; sisters Sherry Duval, of Cottage Grove, ansd Karen Sitzmann, of Lenexa, Kan.; and brother Steve Hain, of Olathe Kan.

 

 

Park Board wants debris from 35W bridge removed
by Dallas Johnson

The Minneapolis park board wants to have the debris from the 35W bridge removed from Bohemian Flats Park where it has been stored since the bridge collapsed in August of 2007, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

In a complaint filed Friday, the Park and Recreation Board said they wanted the pieces removed from the park immediately.  If that does not happen, the board said it would seek more than $50,000 for the loss of the use of the park, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The board says it is losing more than $60,000 a year in parking and docking revenue.

The steel, which belongs to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, would be difficult to move.  MnDOT says it would like to move the pieces but would have to cut them, altering the evidence being used in several other lawsuits.

The parks board is worried that the parts will be on park property for a long time because the bridge suits aren't expected to begin until early 2011.

The board stated in their complain that MnDOT has refused to pay a "reasonable rent."  The board also turned down MnDOT's latest permit extension request.

Man found dead in Minneapolis under suspicious circumstances
by Dallas Johnson

A man was found dead early Saturday morning on a Northeast Minneapolis street, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The man, found on the 1000 block of Lowry Ave. NE, is believed to have died under "suspicious circumstances," the St. Paul Pioneer Press said.

Emergency responders were called to the scene around 5 a.m. to help what they believed to be an unconscious man.  When they arrived, responders found the man dead.

The man's identity has not been released and police have not given any information about what they know in regards to the man's death.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner is expected to release that information pending an autopsy.

The Minneapolis Police Homicide Unit is investigating the case.  They ask anyone who has information on the incident to call the Minneapolis Police Department tip line at 612-692-tips.

Missing woman found unharmed
by Dallas Johnson

A Crystal woman was found Wednesday after she was reported missing earlier this week, Fox 9 News reported.

Maricruz Hernandez, 21, was found by the Crystal Police Department unharmed and with her child, Sgt. Doug Leslin said.

Leslin could not elaborate on Hernandez's or the child's condition.

Hernandez was last seen Sunday at her apartment complex with a 21-year-old St. Paul man, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The man was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and was booked in the Hennepin County jail, jail records said.

The man has not been charged, Leslin said.

The Crystal Police Department continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding Hernandez's disappearance.

Man convicted of murder
by Dallas Johnson

Audie Matthews was convicted Saturday of the murder of Blaine Christofferson in 2008, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Matthews was convicted by a jury in the Ramsey County District Court of first- and second- degree murder in Christofferson's death in March of 2008.

District Judge Gregg Johnson sentenced Matthews, 33, to life in prison following the conviction.  An automatic appeal has been made to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Christofferson, 39, was shot around 2:30 a.m. on March, 8 2008 near White Bear and Minnehaha avenues in a parking lot across from the Cherry Pit bar, WCCO reported.

Christofferson and a friend were leaving the bar when they were approached by a man with a gun.  The man demanded their wallets.  Christofferson handed over his wallet but the gunman wanted more.

There was a struggle and the gunman fired twice, once as Christofferson was running away, and once after he was on the ground.

Christofferson was brought to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 

A K-9 unit tracked Matthews from the scene to a front yard in St. Paul.  Along the way, police found a hand-gun, jacket, sweatshirt and ski mask.



 

Man sues police after being tasered
by Dallas Johnson

A Minneapolis man filed a civil lawsuit Friday against the Minneapolis Police Department for an incident in which the man said he was tasered by an officer after he had surrendered, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Rolando Demetrio Ruiz, 18, filed the lawsuit Friday, naming the city, Police Chief Tim Dolan, officer Todd Lappegaard and others.  Albert Goins, Ruiz's lawyer, released video of the incident.

The video shows Ruiz standing with his hands on the hood of the police car when Lappegaard uses a taser on the back of his neck, according to City Pages.

The lawsuit is seeking damages between $75,000 and $400,000.  The lawsuit is claiming civil rights violatioins, which means that it could exceed $400,000.

Dolan has asked the FBI and the city attorney's office to review the claim.  The video is "very disturbing," Dolan said.

"Minneapolis police training and policies related to use of force and Tasers are based upon national best practices and standards," Dolan said in a statement Tuesday. "We take any violations of those policies very seriously."

Along with civil rights violations, the lawsuit is citing nine other incidents.  A 2002 incident involving Lappegaard was cited, in which an SUV driven by a woman who was running from police was hit by Lappegaard's police car.  The SUV ran off the road and killed a man jogging.

The lawsuit said that the city should have known that Lappegaard was a danger to Minneapolis citizens.

Ruiz pleaded guilty Thursday to a gross misdemeaner for throwing a brick at a Minneapolis police car.  He was sentenced to 62 days in jail, which he has served, two years probation and a $50 fine.

Lappegaard has been assigned to office duty pending the investigation.