Dennis Huff, 18, Charged With Carjacking Minneapolis City Employee, Leading Police On A Chase
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A Chaska teenager has been charged for allegedly carjacking a Minneapolis city employee and leading police on a chase which ended when he crashed the stolen city vehicle into a parked truck.
Dennis Huff, 18, faces one count of aggravated robbery and one count of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle. He was charged in Hennepin County on Thursday.
The carjacking took place around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday in an alley between Sheridan Avenue North and Thomas Avenue North, just south of 39th Avenue North, the criminal complaint says.
A Minneapolis city employee in a vehicle marked "City of Minneapolis Regulatory Services" said he was inspecting a garage when two men approached on foot and stood on either side of the car.
They threatened to shoot him if he did not give them the car, the employee said. When the two allegedly told him to hand over his wallet, he complied. The criminal complaint adds that the employee said he did not see a gun.
A little over a half-hour later, officers found the stolen car around the 1000 block of Oliver Avenue North and started following it in unmarked squads. A helicopter was also tracking the car. Officers saw two men and two women in the car, court documents say.
The three passengers hopped out of the car at a corner store and the two women were arrested; one boy ran from officers but was eventually stopped by officers.
Huff, the driver, then fled officers in the city car, the complaint states. Officers pursued him in squad cars and ran their emergency lights, and he eventually crashed into a parked truck at the intersection of Penn Avenue North and Mount View Road.
In a post-Miranda statement, Huff admitted to driving the stolen car and fleeing from police. He denied taking the car by force or participating in a robbery. When asked how he got the car, Huff said he didn't know, because he had been using drugs and sometimes blacks out, the complaint states.
The aggravated robbery charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years, if Huff is convicted.