South Lake Minnetonka Police Officer on Leave After Use of Force Incident in Chanhassen

(KNSI) — The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has shared more details surrounding a chase and use of force incident in Chanhassen.

Investigators say on March 26th, an officer with the Chanhassen police department ran a license check on a vehicle that came back registered to Amanda Nelson of Bloomington. She was behind the wheel, but she was also wanted on an aggravated assault warrant out of Illinois. The officer tried to pull her over, but she did not stop and a pursuit was initiated. A member of the South Lake Minnetonka police department joined in and used a pursuit intervention tactic called a PIT maneuver to get her to stop. He drove his car in front of Nelson’s to prevent her from driving away. The officer saw Nelson had a gun pointed at him and fired at her through the windshield of his squad car. She was not hit and fled the scene.

According to the BCA, both officers followed her and used another PIT maneuver to get her to stop before she drove into a busy intersection at Highway 5 and Highway 41. Nelson was arrested several hours later and taken to a hospital for treatment before being booked into jail.

The SLM officer who fired his gun has 18 years of law enforcement experience and is on standard administrative leave.

Police say they recovered a black Smith & Wesson BB gun air pistol from inside Nelson’s vehicle.

Everything was caught on dashcam and body cam. The investigation is still ongoing. Once complete, it will be turned over to the Carver County Attorney’s Office for review without a charging recommendation.

KNSI News does not typically use names until formal charges have been filed.

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