Rochester Police Chase Ends in Crash Near Chester
Rochester, MN (KROCAM News) - A Rochester man is expected to face multiple criminal charges after leading police on a high speed chase Friday morning that included a residential neighborhood.
A police spokesman says 30 year old Andrew Berndt was taken to St. Mary’s for treatment of non-life threatening injuries he suffered after he crashed his car into a guardrail in Chester.
The incident began around 2:30 when a patrol officer spotted Berndt driving erratically on 4th Street SE near the Holiday convenience store. When the officer tried to make a traffic stop, Berndt took off at a high rate of speed on 4th Avenue and headed south through the residential neighborhood until he reached 12th Street, which is also Highway 14. He then went east and turned his lights off, hitting speeds of 100 miles per hour until he crashed several miles away.
Despite his injuries, Berndt took off on foot but was caught a short distance away. A 35 year old woman was found in the car. A spokesman says she was so drunk, she was taken to the local detox center. Investigators closed the section of Highway 14 where the crash occurred for several hours as the car was searched and mapping officials completed their work.
The spokesman says Berndt was the suspected driver in a high speed chase in the city on September 2nd. Ironically, the car in that incident was the same one involved in Friday's chase and also involved the same southeast residential neighborhood. The officer in that incident broke off the chase but later identified Berndt as the driver, although he was never charged.
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