January 13, 2006
High Speed Chase Through St. Paul Neighborhood
Nothing like a high speed police chase through your neighborhood to keep you up at night. Around 11:30 last night my wife and I were just getting to sleep when we heard police sirens, which isn't an out of the ordinary in our Hamline-Midway neighborhood, just across the street from Frogtown. But the sirens got closer and closer, then the flashing lights lit up the night and we could hear engines slow to make the turn off Lexington and onto our street, and then gun as they tore down our street. One. Two. Three. Four. Five cop cars in a row in hot pursuit down our residential street.
My wife looked out the window to see three cars continue the chase east and one car turn north and one car turn south. A bit surprised, we rolled over to go back to sleep, but the sirens didn't fade away. It sounded like they were circling back around. Another police car came back down our street, this time no lights or sirens. We could see glimpses of flashing lights here and there and the sirens faded for a minute or two, but then came back.
We saw another glimpse of flashing lights in the direction of the Griggs Rec Center and then we could see the police cars turn south. Then we saw it, a white car running with no lights, flying down the street less than a block from our house. Four cop cars followed in hot pursuit, lights flashing and sirens wailing.
Of course I have no idea what was going on. Apparently high speed chases through residential neighborhoods are a common enough occurrence that it's not really news.
Posted by kevin at 9:01 AM | TrackBack
September 6, 2005
Most Dangerous Road in the Twin Cities
The stretch of I-94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul is one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the Twin Cities. Thanks to traffic congestion, closely spaced on and off ramps and the Lowry Tunnel, that stretch of road had more accidents than any where else in the Cities in the past few years. (link via MNSpeak)
Posted by kevin at 10:37 AM | TrackBack
May 10, 2005
Airport Fender Bender
Two airplanes collided at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport this evening in what appears to be a minor on-the-ground fender-bender. One plane lost its steering and plowed into another parked plane. Some injuries reported, possibly critical. No major details yet.
Of course UPN-29 seemed to think it was breaking news--enough to cut into prime time programming and stand there--uh--telling us a couple airplanes crashed and we--uh--don't know anything. After some lame gesticulating they finally showed some live helicopter footage of two parked planes and a whole bunch of emergency vehicles. They did point out that the emergency slides were deployed, which is--uh--big news.
Apparently it's not the only recent accident at the airport: a tanker truck crashed into a plane after the driver blacked out.
Update: The Star Trib finally has a report on the accident, though apparently they're just watching TV like the rest of us.
Update: And the full story.
Posted by kevin at 8:30 PM | TrackBack
May 7, 2005
St. Paul Cop Killed; 2 Men in Custody
St. Paul Police Sgt. Gerald Vick was shot multiple times and killed early Friday morning, prompting an urgent manhunt. Two men were taken into custody and expect to be charged by Monday. It's the first time a St. Paul police officer has been killed since 1994. The media is all over the story, including the following stories:
Gunshots in dark alley lead to tense manhunt
A decorated cop, life saver and hero
Black men scrutinized in search
Suspect not a violent man, friends say
Suspects had long criminal histories
Courts know suspects well
Neighborhood reflections, flashbacks
Shooting chronology
Kelly vows to mend flawed legal justice system
Services for the slain officer will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Continue reading "St. Paul Cop Killed; 2 Men in Custody"
Posted by kevin at 11:09 PM | TrackBack