High Speed Pursuit Ends in Stearns County Swamp

(KNSI) — What started as a driving complaint on Interstate 94 in Lynden Township on Tuesday morning turned into a multi-agency high-speed pursuit that ended in a swamp.

According to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, around 12:40, the agency responded to help the Minnesota State Patrol with the complaint on I-94 near mile marker 174. While they were en route, they learned the Jeep Wrangler had been stolen out of Fargo. A St. Joseph police officer spotted the SUV on I-94 and worked with others to coordinate a traffic stop near Avon. The driver took off at a high rate of speed and exited the freeway in Albany, driving through several residential neighborhoods before getting back on I-94. The driver headed west and got off at Freeport, continuing into St. Rosa, where they turned off their headlights and drove the wrong way several times.

Authorities say spike strips were deployed on County Road 168 and flattened the Jeep’s tires, but the driver kept going, turned into a property, and then drove into a body of water. Thirty-two-year-old Melissa Marie Torres of Moorhead was driving the SUV, and both she and her 21-year-old male passenger, Jackson Paul Mulder of Valley City, North Dakota, abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot into the surrounding swamp area.

Police surrounded the area and used K9 unit announcements to get them to come out, which they did without further resistance.

The two were taken to Melrose Hospital Emergency Trauma Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. No one else was hurt.

Both Torres and Mulder had warrants out for their arrest.

Other agencies who helped include Melrose Ambulance, Melrose Police, Sauk Centre Police, St. Cloud Police, and Waite Park Police.

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