Careless CARAG Driver Nearly Creams Cop Car

Around 9 p.m. Wednesday night, an extremely intoxicated CARAG resident decided to try to exit an alleyway onto the 700 block of West 31st Street.

The 29-year old driver reversed straight into the path of a police car traveling on West 31st Street, and continued across the road, according to a report filed by officers with the Minneapolis Police Department. The maneuver left the drunkard’s car parallel to the road, blocking both lanes of travel “for several minutes,” causing a minor traffic jam.

At this point, according to the police report, the driver managed to extricate himself from the driver’s seat and start walking around. When officers approached him, the report says, “they could smell a strong odor of alcohol and noticed slurred and incoherent speech.”

The man failed field sobriety tests, blew a .16 on the officers’ breathalyzer, and was booked into the Hennepin County Jail for driving while intoxicated after a chemical blood alcohol concentration test was administered at a police facility.

Oct. 10

A car parked overnight on the 3600 block of Colfax Avenue South had its driver-side door mirror severed by what the victim believes was a careless motorist.

A car stolen from the 3900 block of 1st Avenue South between 7 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. was recovered around noon after an alert caller on the 3900 block of Blaisdell Avenue South noticed a car parked in front of his house was running without keys in the ignition. The thief responsible had punched in a door lock with a screwdriver, and had dismantled the car’s ignition system in an effort to get it running.

A Plymouth resident reported her gym bag was stolen from a car on Oct. 8 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., while the car was parked in front of the Bakken Museum.

A car parked at the Lake Harriet Bandshell around 8 p.m. was broken into while its owner went to fish in Lake Harriet. The thieves, driving an old pickup, made off with the fisherman’s bag by smashing the car’s window.

A garage on the 4800 block of East Lake Harriet Parkway was broken into between 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 and 8 a.m. on Oct. 10. The burglars also smashed the window of the homeowner’s car and took items from the inside of the vehicle.

Four Southwest High School students were cited for fighting on the school bus. The fighting was so bad that the bus driver turned the bus around and brought it and its passengers back to Southwest to get help settling the issue.  The police report tartly notes that the fight was “disrupting, disturbing, and angering” and “an inconvenience to the other students riding the bus.