A multicity law enforcement chase of carjacking suspects earlier this week in Ramsey County has a four-legged postscript.
The Sheriff’s Office says a puppy was thrown Monday night from a pickup truck that was being pursued, and he shivered for hours in subzero weather until deputies rescued him from a snowy freeway embankment the next morning.
Deputies rushed the puppy to an emergency veterinarian for treatment of a broken leg and other injuries that he is expected to survive, the Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook posting.
The deputies gave the pup the temporary name of Taho, and he’ll remain in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office and be fostered by a dog-loving employee. The Sheriff’s Office has yet to say whether one of the suspects or someone else was the puppy’s owner.
The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Foundation is accepting donations to cover medical costs for Taho. Currently, medical costs have totaled $4,500. Ongoing medical costs are estimated to total $7,500. Donations to help with Taho’s recovery are being accepted at www.ramseysheriffsfoundation.org.
Law enforcement has announced no arrests, but the county jail log shows a 26-year-old woman was arrested that night on suspicion of aiding auto theft and animal cruelty in Arden Hills.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the mayhem began with what was thought to be a routine speeding stop:
About 11 p.m., a deputy tried to pull over a speeding vehicle near County Road C and Little Canada Road. But the driver took off in what deputies later learned was a stolen vehicle, and the pursuit was on.
The vehicle soon pulled over, but two men ran and tried to carjack another vehicle “while clearly displaying a handgun,” said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Linders. However, the carjacking failed, and the men returned to the pickup they had abandoned and drove off.
A second deputy joined the westbound pursuit on the wrong side of Interstate 694, just west of Lexington Avenue in Arden Hills, and used his squad car to stop the fleeing pickup.
The two men again fled on foot, but two women with them were apprehended. In the meantime, the fleeing men split up and carjacked separate vehicles. One of the vehicles was found abandoned in Mounds View, while the other had yet to be located.
Later investigation by the Sheriff’s Office revealed the puppy factor to the pursuit. As the suspects were fleeing the wrong way on I-694, the passenger’s side back door quickly opened. A deputy yelled, “Watch for a gun!”
From the open door, the suspects threw from the pickup a white object that hit the freeway and rolled into the lanes of traffic. Upon review of in-squad video and other evidence, deputies determined the white object was the puppy.
Deputies searched the next morning and found him alongside the freeway about 50 yards from where he was thrown.
Temperature readings in that part of the Twin Cities bottomed out at 12 degrees below zero as the dog burrowed in the snow, according to the National Weather Service.
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