There were some tense moments last Thursday morning for Eden Prairie police and other responders when the pursuit of a stolen vehicle ended in Richfield with a PIT maneuver and an uncooperative suspect who refused to exit the vehicle.
Eden Prairie police responded about 8:22 a.m. Thursday on a report of a stolen vehicle at McDonald’s near Eden Prairie Center. An officer initiated a traffic stop on the black Toyota Avalon as the vehicle exited McDonald’s. The driver did not stop and fled at a high rate of speed driving through red lights. The suspect vehicle eventually entered Hwy. 212 and then merged onto Hwy. 62, traveling in an eastbound direction.
MNDOT traffic cameras picked up the pursuit as it entered the Richfield area near Penn Avenue South. At about 8:40 a.m., squads in the Richfield and Edina area were requested to assist with the incident, according to dispatch audio at the time. Heavy traffic can be seen on the highway due to morning rush hour. The suspect vehicle exited the highway and then immediately entered the highway again on an entrance ramp when officers conducted a PIT maneuver and eventually ended the chase.
Dispatch audio from the incident indicated that stop sticks were deployed prior to the PIT maneuver on the entrance ramp. Police aired that the suspect was uncooperative and requested someone with a 40mm less lethal launcher to respond. The suspect eventually exited and appeared to collapse outside the vehicle. An officer aired that Narcan was being administered. EMS responded to the scene and the suspect was transported to the hospital with an “altered mental status” and unspecified injuries, according to further dispatch audio.
Najib Ahmed Abdi, 19, of Minneapolis was booked into Hennepin County Jail Thursday evening and has since been charged with fleeing police, receiving stolen property, and fifth-degree drug possession, all felonies.
Charges say a search of the stolen vehicle turned up an IKEA bag which contained two vacuum bags filled with 887.7 grams of suspected marijuana, nearly 2 lbs. Abdi made comments to police that suggested he was aware the car had been stolen. A search of Abdi’s person found $4,822 in a pocket of his shorts.
Abdi remains in custody on $20,000 bail and is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the new charges on Monday afternoon.
Court records show that Abdi has another pending Hennepin County case charged last year on one count of gross misdemeanor third-degree damage to property. Charges in that case say that in February 2022, Abdi, 18 at the time, along with five other inmates at the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center popped sprinkler heads in their rooms and caused flooding damage to the facility totaling over $3,700.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
