See Where Crimes Hit Your Neighborhood This Week: Jan. 22-28

Jan. 29

Just before 3 a.m., a taxi driver wiped out a traffic sign and a retaining wall when he lost control of his vehicle on a slippery stretch of West 49th Street, near the intersection of York Ave South.

Jan. 28

A Pat's Tap server's intuition saved a Minneapolis resident nearly $100 when someone tried to use a stolen credit card to pay their bar tab at 1 a.m. The suspect was gone by the time police arrived.

A Linden Hills resident realized why they were temporarily $110 the poorer around 9 a.m. when they got a call from fraud watchdogs at Wells Fargo about a series of recent suspicious charges made on their bank card from Illinois, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Minnesota. When they called police, they said the fraudulent charges could be somehow linked to the last time they used their card at Gas Plus in Linden Hills.

Jan. 27

Burglars let themselves into an unlocked garage on the 3600 block of Lyndale Ave South during the night, and helped them to the contents of the car parked inside.

Police cited a panhandler pacing up and down the highway-side boulevard on the 3900 block of Stevens around lunchtime. The man either couldn't care about or couldn't see a sign posted above his head that read "No Trespassing - MnDOT."

A Cub Foods employee collared a 19-year old Tangletown resident for shoplifting around 1:30 p.m. Not two hours later, a 22-year old Longfellow resident was stopped while trying to sneak out of the store with $47.26 in unpaid groceries in her bag.

A 21-year old Whittier man was arrested on an outstanding warrant on the 3100 block of Nicollet Ave South just before 2 p.m.

Four bikes disappeared out of an unlocked garage on the 5100 block of Dupont Ave South sometime during the night. 

Jan. 26

A bout of midnight hunger got a brand new driver in trouble in Windom when police pulled the 16-year old and her 15-year old over for driving without headlights on or a copy of her yellow paper temporary license while looking for a place to eat. Since the two were out past curfew, police cited them and transported them home.

Burglars broke into a house on the 3200 block of Colfax Ave South. Crime lab techs processed the scene, but so far police haven't released any information about the suspects.

Jan. 25

A resident of the 500 block of West 34th Street found himself the victim of either a peculiar thief or a desperate ice fisherman when someone broke into his pickup overnight and stole his fishing gear. In the last week, the Hennepin County Sheriff has sounded several alarms about unsafe ice.

The odd thefts continued on the 5900 block of Colfax Ave South, when unknown people made off with a stack of firewood left by a house's driveway during the night.

Police nabbed four truant Washburn High School students around 9:30 a.m. on the 4600 and 4700 blocks of Nicollet Ave South. Washburn starts class at 8:30 in the morning.

Early morning thieves took a woman's company-issued laptop from a car parked behind abuilding on the 3500 block of Lyndale Ave South.

In what could be the smallest shoplifting incident in recent memory, a 56-year old Richfield man was cited for theft and trespassed from Cub Foods after trying to make off with a $5.61 item.

A resident of the 3400 block of Harriet Ave South lost a car window and a handfull of pocket change to a midnight thief.

A 33-year old St. Louis Park man was mugged on the 3200 block of Emerson Ave South around 9 p.m. So far, police haven't provided any further information about the incident.

A careless cyclist running a stop sign around 11 p.m. at the corner of West 34th Street and Emerson Ave South was themself struck by an oncoming car. According to the police report, the car had stopped at the stop sign, then initiated a left-hand turn thinking the cyclist would stop at the sign. The cyclist was taken to a nearby hospital, while the driver was cited for driving with a suspended license.

Jan. 24

An ECCO man was arrested at the intersection of West 31st Street and Humboldt Ave South on suspicion of a narcotics violation around 11 p.m. No further information was available in the police report.

Jan. 23

A school response officer at Anthony Middle School reported that an 11-year old girl threatened and 11-year old boy with violence. The girl was suspended and a citation for fifth-degree assault was mailed to her home.

Jan. 22

A Cub Foods employee stopped a 25-year old man from leaving the store when they spotted the man trying to sneak out with $95 of baby formula hidden in his jacket.