Vance
An Inver Grove Heights man is facing charges after allegedly fleeing Oak Park Heights police in a stolen vehicle with a 68-year-old blind woman inside Dec. 3.
Around 5:15 p.m. Dec. 3, police attempted to arrest Derek Michael Vance, then 31, in the Oak Park Heights Walmart parking lot on suspicion of auto theft and shoplifting. Vance was also wanted by the Minnesota Department of Corrections on a warrant for a felony probation violation.
According to Oak Park Heights police, Vance struggled with the officer and fled on foot before getting into another customer’s running vehicle and fleeing the scene. A 68-year-old blind woman from Glenwood City, Wis., was inside the vehicle, waiting for her husband to return from shopping. Her husband later told police he had believed the vehicle was locked.
After driving away, Vance allegedly crashed the vehicle into a pond at Autumn Hills Park in Oak Park Heights and fled on foot. Chief Brian DeRosier said Vance had initially been armed with a knife, but it was taken before he fled.
Officers helped the 68-year-old woman out of the crashed vehicle. No one was injured.
Law enforcement searched for Vance with helicopter and K-9 units. Oak Park Heights police, Stillwater police, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota State Patrol participated in the search.
Eventually a resident let Vance into a home on the 5400 block of Norell Avenue, where he used a phone to call for a ride out of the area, police say.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office caught up with Vance the following evening, Dec. 4, when a deputy tried to initiate a traffic stop in Mahtomedi just before 9 p.m. Vance was driving another vehicle believed to be stolen, and didn’t stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Stillwater and Wildwood roads, according to criminal charges against him.
The vehicle sped away from the deputy and turned onto Oakdale drive, a dead end. The vehicle continued to travel off-road crashed into a utility pole, causing an explosion on the line, and the power line fell and caught fire on the ground, the criminal complaint says.
Vance fled on foot, authorities say, but officers tracked him using a K-9. While the sheriff’s office was tracking Vance, a White Bear Lake police officer found him in the parking lot of Fleet Farm in Oakdale, where he was taken into custody.
Patrol Commander Brian Mueller said three officers were transported to Lakeview Hospital after a power line became electrified while they were processing the crime scene. They were treated and released.
In connection with the incident, Vance has been charged with one count of kidnapping, two counts of receiving stolen property, one count of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and one count of theft, all felonies.
The charges are in addition to the warrant that had been issued for violation of probation. Vance has a criminal history, including conviction of felony-level domestic assault.
Contact Jonathan Young at jonathan.young@ecm-inc.com