High-speed pursuit policy concerns officials

Law enforcement officials followed several high-speed pursuits throughout the Bemidji area this fall. Many of these pursuits crossed from one jurisdiction to another. And when pursuits cross jurisdiction lines, local authorities said they often combine forces to continue following a vehicle.

For example, on Oct. 10, a Beltrami County Sheriff’s deputy pursued a car at speeds up to 105 mph onto the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Another deputy talking him through the pursuit by radio told him to let Red Lake Tribal Police take the lead in the pursuit once he crossed the reservation line.

“All he did from that point is he backed off,” Beltrami County Sheriff Keith Winger said. He told both the pursing deputy and the deputy manning the radio how well they did.

“I was listening to them,” Winger said. He said he heard the deputy on the radio tell the pursuing deputy to “be really careful and keep it as safe as possible.”

The Oct. 10 pursuit began after the Bemidji Police Department responded to a domestic disturbance call just before 10 a.m. within city limits. City officers pursued the car involved with the domestic, and the deputy joined the pursuit near Movil Lake. When the pursuit continued into Red Lake Indian Reservation, the city officers backed off and the deputy took over.

Once the tribal police joined the pursuit, the deputy tagged behind at lower speeds as a support to tribal police officers.

“Quite honestly, we really are so much aware of the safety issue,” Winger said.

The morning pursuit ended outside Ponemah where the suspect pulled into a residence and escaped into the woods. Deputies assisted Red Lake officers in the search for the suspect. However, the suspect was not found during the search.

Pursuits running between the county and reservation lines occur regularly, the sheriff said.

Red Lake Tribal Police Capt. Dwayne Dow agreed.

“It’s pretty much common,” Dow said. “Most of the pursuits that we have come in from Beltrami.”

“I’m really hopeful we get some pursuit policies signed with Red Lake,” Winger said.

Although the two jurisdictions have no set joint policy, the sheriff recently wrote some policy he hopes will give deputies and tribal police officers a clearer direction on handling pursuits between the two jurisdictions.

“It will deal with where they (pursuit suspects) are detained, who would take care of charges first,” said Winger.

He said he sent a draft of the policy to Red Lake Tribal Police for review.

With several pursuits racing through the Bemidji area, the Bemidji Police Department took an Oct. 16 police training in-service as an opportunity to review its pursuit policy.

“The purpose of our policy is to guide our officers in a safe and reasonable performance of their duties,” Bemidji Police Capt. Daryle Russell said.

A TrekNorth 14-year-old student was arrested after allegedly leading Bemidji police officers in an extensive pursuit of a stolen PT Cruiser through Bemidji on Sept. 18.

“It doesn’t happen everyday, but it’s not extremely rare either,” Russell said about pursuits within city limits.

If the risks outweigh the need to apprehend, the officers and officer supervisor can use their discretion to terminate the pursuit, Russell said.

“It’s a felony to flee a police officer in Minnesota,” Russell said. When he first started in law enforcement in Bemidji 23 years ago, fleeing a police officer wasn’t a felony.

An Oct. 3 high-speed pursuit of an alleged drunken driver southeast of Bemidji ended with a crash that killed a Carlton man. Hubbard County deputies pursued a car driven by George Tiokasin, 55, for about 15 miles at speeds up to 115 mph before the Carlton man’s car lost control at a 90-degree angle intersection of Beltrami and Hubbard county roads.

Beltrami County deputies and Bemidji Police officers joined Hubbard County deputies in the pursuit. Hubbard County Sheriff Gary Mills was not available for comment on his county’s pursuit policy.

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