Posted: 10/14/04
High-speed chase ends in Princeton
By Joel Stottrup
A man with no permanent address was arrested on Tuesday evening last week after a high-speed car chase that began at Cambridge and ended up going through downtown Princeton.
Princeton police assisted in trying to stop the person fleeing authorities when the car arrived in Princeton about 6:25 p.m.
By then, two Isanti Sheriff's Department squad cars and one State Patrol car were pursuing the vehicle, a red 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier. The driver of the Cavalier stopped the car to end the chase in the parking lot at Fairview Northland Regional Hospital in Princeton.
There were no indications, according to the police report, that the driver or passenger who were in the car were trying to get to the hospital.
Russ Monson, chief deputy at the Isanti Sheriff's Department, said the chase began in Cambridge with a Cambridge city police officer trying to respond to a report that someone was threatening people in the area of the American Legion located east of the main downtown street in Cambridge.
That was at 6:08 p.m. and when a city police officer tried to get to the suspect, Matt Lindgren, Lindgren drove off in the Cavalier, with an unnamed male passenger. Soon sheriff's deputies took over the chase as the Cavalier headed west out of Cambridge on Highway 95.
During the chase towards Princeton with the deputies and State Patrol in pursuit, speeds reached as high as 118 mph, according to Monson.
The suspect was "doing a lot of passing cars on the right," Monson noted.
A Princeton police officer was waiting in a squad car at the intersection of Rum River Drive and Highway 95 to assist and Lindgren at that point turned off the highway onto Rum River Drive and headed south through the downtown.
The car turned west on Northland Drive after going at a fast rate through the downtown, according to witnesses, and ended up at the hospital lot.
Deputy Monson said that Lindgren maneuvered around a car to get through the intersection of Northland Drive and Rum River Drive and when he got to the hospital, made a "hard left in front of an arriving ambulance."
Monson said that after officers ordered Lindgren to go down to the ground when he was seen walking toward the hospital and he wouldn't comply, an officer shot Lindgren with a Taser gun.
The gun shoots a prong on wires hooked to the gun. When the prongs contact the body they fire electrical shocks for five seconds, enough to numb the person so they are subdued, said Monson.
After Lindgren went to the ground officers handcuffed and arrested him and took him to jail.
Lindgren, 27, whose last known address was Cambridge, was later charged with felony fleeing a police officer and misdemeanor driving after suspension of license.
Monson said officers don't want to end up in a high-speed chase and that many factors are considered before deciding to engage in one.
Most of the time, the high-speed pursuits that occur around the Cambridge area are up and down Highway 95, Monson added. If they are in the rural area of the county, the routes zig zag and the suspect vehicle can be stopped more easily, he said.
Princeton Union-Eagle
P.O. Box 278
Princeton, MN 55371
Telephone: 763-389-1222
Fax: 763-389-1728