A burglary suspect was struck and injured by an unoccupied Minnetonka police vehicle near George Floyd Square in South Minneapolis on Monday morning, according to police. The suspect suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul following the roughly 9:20 a.m. incident.
The Minnetonka officer involved was a member of the Hennepin County Auto Theft Task Force and had been engaged in a foot pursuit of the suspect when the vehicle struck him after the arrest, according to the Minnetonka Police Department, as reported by CBS News. The task force is a multi-agency coalition funded through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and includes the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office along with police departments from Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, and Edina, according to FOX 9. That cross-jurisdictional structure explains why a suburban Minnetonka officer was operating inside Minneapolis city limits at the time of the incident.
Witness Account Conflicts With Police Description
Exactly how the unoccupied vehicle came to strike the suspect remains disputed. Minnetonka police described the vehicle as unoccupied at the moment of contact, but a witness named Jonathan Williamson said his friends saw an unmarked police vehicle drive over the suspect in the parking lot of the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center, located at 3749 Chicago Avenue South, within the historic footprint of George Floyd Square. The discrepancy between an unoccupied vehicle rolling into the suspect and a witness account describing the vehicle driving over him has not been resolved, and it remains unclear exactly how the squad moved without a driver at the wheel.
Williamson also said a similar crash involving law enforcement and pedestrians happened on the same block earlier this summer, adding another layer of concern for a stretch of Chicago Avenue that has drawn intense public scrutiny since 2020. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is leading the investigation into Monday's incident, a role state law assigns to the agency's Independent Use of Force Investigation Unit whenever a peace officer's actions result in serious bodily injury or death, according to the City of Maple Grove. That state statute is why BCA investigators, rather than Minneapolis or Minnetonka police, are handling the critical-incident review.
Unattended Vehicle Rules Under Minnesota Law
Minnesota Statute § 169.36 requires any driver or person in charge of a motor vehicle to effectively set the parking brake before leaving it unattended on a roadway or public street, a standard laid out by Justia Law. Whether that standard applies to how Monday's squad car came to strike the suspect is one of the questions the BCA's investigation is expected to address, though no findings have been released.
The incident adds to a notable morning for Twin Cities law enforcement. St. Paul police shot a domestic assault suspect outside Regions Hospital the same morning, according to CBS Minnesota — the same hospital where the injured burglary suspect from the Minnetonka incident was taken. The overlap underscores the strained emergency conditions facing the region's hospitals and law enforcement agencies on Monday.
Auto Theft Enforcement Has Expanded Across the Metro
The task force behind Monday's operation has been increasingly active across Hennepin County. In 2025, it recovered 568 stolen vehicles, made 146 felony arrests, and confiscated 20 illegal or illegally possessed firearms across member jurisdictions, per the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. Officials reported in March that roughly 20% of vehicles stolen in the county are taken using digital key-programming devices that let thieves bypass security in 30 to 40 seconds, a surge that has driven expanded task force patrols throughout the metro, per FOX 9's reporting.
The City of Minneapolis has formally folded that task force into its broader public safety strategy. The city's 2026 Summer Safety Plan explicitly incorporates inter-agency participation with the Hennepin County Auto Theft Task Force alongside specialized municipal violent crime units, according to the City of Minneapolis. That policy framework is part of why the task force had authorization to operate within Minneapolis city limits on Monday.
A Site Still Under Close Watch
George Floyd Square has remained under heightened scrutiny since 2020, and any incident involving police use of force near the intersection draws immediate attention. The city advanced plans in December to redevelop the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue into a permanent living memorial, even as debate continues over traffic flow and safety access in the area. Monday's incident, occurring just blocks from that ongoing planning process, is likely to intensify community attention on how police operate near the square.
State data offers some broader context for use-of-force incidents involving vehicles. Minnesota troopers engaged in 362,763 public interactions in 2025, resulting in 284 reported use-of-force incidents, including vehicular intervention techniques, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. No further details on the suspect's condition, the vehicle's exact movement, or potential dashcam or bodycam footage have been released as the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's investigation continues.
