Patrol Not Sure Why Fergus Falls Councilman Fled
ELBOW LAKE, Minn. (AP) — Authorities said Tuesday they don't know why a City Council member in northwestern Minnesota led law enforcement officers on a chase that ended when he crashed into a squad car and died.
The incident began when Fergus Falls Councilman Timothy Rundquist fled a state trooper who had stopped him for speeding around 5 p.m. Monday near Elbow Lake in Otter Tail County, the State Patrol said. Other law enforcement officers used stop sticks to try to stop him, but he continued to flee another 11 miles before crashing head-on into an Ashby police squad car that was stopped on the side of the road.
State Patrol Lt. Charles Backes said Rundquist, 62, died at the scene. No officers were hurt in the crash or chase, which reached speeds of 60 to 80 mph. Backes said the Ashby police officer was outside of his car putting down stop sticks when the vehicle was struck.
He said investigators don't know why Rundquist fled or why he crashed into the squad car. The officers pursuing him didn't know who he was at the time, the lieutenant said.
"We don't know any motives," Backes said. "We really don't want to speculate as to why."
Investigators will reconstruct what happened "to see if we can make sense of this tragic event, especially at this time of year," he said.
Reconstructions can take a couple weeks to a month but the patrol will try to provide updates as information becomes available, he said.
The lieutenant said investigators have not determined whether Rundquist had been drinking.
Besides serving on the City Council since January 2013, Rundquist had been on the business school faculty at Minnesota State University Moorhead and had worked as an assistant county attorney for Stevens County.
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