A 30-year-old Richfield man is in custody after allegedly pointing a gun at a White Bear Lake gas station and then speeding off in a stolen Kia Sedona, touching off an 18-mile pursuit that stretched west across I-694 into Anoka before deputies forced the minivan to a stop. Jaime Alexis Escoto Rodriguez was arrested at the end of the chase and is now awaiting charges, with no first court date yet set.
According to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the pursuit began after Rodriguez pointed the gun at the White Bear Lake gas station and fled in the stolen Kia. Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office dashcam video obtained by the station shows the final moments of the 18-mile chase, which authorities say lasted about 11 minutes.
Chase Stretched From White Bear Lake Into Anoka
Per the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, Rodriguez headed west on I-694 as deputies pursued him, with the high-speed chase continuing into Anoka before it ended. The station’s report notes that Rodriguez kept driving even after his tires crossed stop sticks laid out to disable the vehicle, forcing deputies to use another tactic to end the chase.
A deputy ultimately stopped Rodriguez using a PIT maneuver, a technique in which an officer makes contact with a fleeing vehicle at a specific point to spin it out, as described by CBS News Minnesota. Some Minnesota police and sheriff cadets train specifically in the maneuver as a way to safely end pursuits that have run too long or grown too dangerous to continue.
Minnesota Pursuits Are Common — and Often End Without Arrests
The Richfield man’s arrest adds to a long list of Minnesota police pursuits tracked statewide. CBS News Minnesota reports that police across the state engaged in 7,044 pursuits over a recent three-year period, with traffic violations accounting for 56.7% of chases and stolen vehicles making up another 13.6%…