Stolen Truck Leads Police On Lengthy Pursuit Along Hwy. 10
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- More than a dozen police cruisers followed a stolen truck along Highway 10 Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities say the truck was stolen from a Menards in Maplewood Wednesday afternoon and tracked using a GPS device.
The truck was owned by Spiess Delivery Incorporated. Several of them are parked outside the Menards and are used to make deliveries.
"I got a call at noon saying the truck was moving because we have GPS in all the trucks," said owner Bill Spiess.
The problem was none of his drivers were in the middle of making deliveries.
"Why anybody would steal a big vehicle like that, I have no clue," he said.
An officer located the truck at 1:40 p.m. on Highway 10 near Elk River headed west, but the driver made a U-turn and started heading east.
Spiess hopped on the highway as well and started west on Highway 10. He even caught a glimpse of the pursuit.
"I see the truck go [west] ... hardly any tires on it at that point," he said. "The main thing to me was just anybody getting hurt. The truck can be replaced."
Traffic was cleared for miles along Highway 10 as police followed the vehicle. Officers deployed multiple stop sticks along the way, blowing out several tires on the truck, which continued driving on its rims.
Police utilized a PIT maneuver on the truck near Foley Boulevard in Coon Rapids. The truck hit the freeway wall and came to a stop. Traffic resumed to a single lane on the highway at around 2:30 p.m.
The Minnesota State Patrol said the driver was not injured and is in custody.
All of the doors on Speiss' trucks were unlocked. Spiess said that's because thieves smashed the windows in the past in order to try stealing his vehicles.
He is not sure if keys were accidentally left inside, but said he would be looking into it.
He hopes surveillance cameras in the area caught a glimpse of how the suspect made off with the truck.
