3 hurt in collision with speeding car

BRIEFING: ST. PAUL

A high-speed escape by suspected shoplifters ended in a crash that injured three people in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon.

The car was speeding westbound on Interstate 94 when it took the White Bear Avenue exit and struck another car at an intersection about 4:20 p.m., according to Woodbury police.

The driver of the fleeing car, who was suspected of shoplifting at the Woodbury Target, ran away after the crash. Two other suspects in the vehicle were captured nearby and taken into custody.

The injured were taken to Regions Hospital. Nurse Laura Fitzgerald of St. Paul, who was in the area and stopped to assist, said she saw an injured female driver in the car that was struck, a woman trapped under a fence, and a man who had been thrown beyond the fence.

Police officers on foot and the Minnesota State Patrol helicopter were searching for the driver, who had not been found late Saturday.

In a statement, Woodbury police said they were not involved in a chase but that a squad car had been driving west on I-94 with emergency lights and sirens on looking for the suspects' vehicle. The officer reportedly spotted the suspects' vehicle one exit before White Bear Avenue.

— Pioneer Press