BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — In a YouTube video titled "Head-on collision results in an arrest for DWI," Bloomington Police Chief Booker T. Hodges described a harrowing arrest of a driver fleeing police after a crash.
On Friday, Nov. 8, prosecutors charged Melvonte Lee Peterson, 33, of Blaine, with fleeing police, drug possession and driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol, according to court documents.
Two days earlier, officers were called to the area of I-494 and Lyndale Ave. S. on a report of a head-on crash with injuries.
When officers arrived, they spoke with the victim who said she was hit by a car going the wrong way. Meanwhile, officers described Peterson as "dazed, was not responding in a normal manner, and was having a hard time getting his car in park."
Officers also noticed the smell of marijuana coming from his car and saw a baggie with a white substance in his car, according to the criminal complaint.
Eventually, he took off. "When our officers got there we saw two vehicles. We started tending to the victim who was hit but the suspect in this case... he didn't want to stick around," Chief Hodges said in the video.
Chief Hodges then showed police dashcam video of a white car with the driver door open taking off from the crash scene. Then the dashcam switches to squad cars chasing the suspect and performing PIT maneuvers. A PIT maneuver (precision immobilization technique) is a law enforcement pursuit tactic in which a pursuing vehicle forces another vehicle to turn sideways abruptly, causing the driver to lose control and stop. But that did not happen.
As Chief Hodges shows in the video, it took four PIT maneuvers to stop the car and by that time the front hood was up completely covering the windshield — blinding the driver.
In the video, Chief Hodges then picks up Peterson's mugshot, "So the person here, Melvonte Lee Peterson, we locked him up. He is charged with 3rd-degree possession because he had the fentanyl with him in the car."
Chief Hodges ended the video by saying the crash victim was doing okay and gave a warning.
"Rest assured if you drive like this in Bloomington and you're drunk. We're going to get you. We're going to lock you up and you're not going to run away and get away from us."