Star Tribune
Ex-Minneapolis firefighter accused of attacking Gopher football alum jailed again after pursuit
A former Minneapolis firefighter charged with assaulting an ex-Minnesota Gophers football star is back in jail after posting bond, cutting off his ankle bracelet and leading law enforcement on a pursuit in western Minnesota that lasted more than an hour, officials said.
Eric M. Jagers, 54, was booked into the Wilkin County jail late Saturday morning on suspicion of fleeing police in a motor vehicle and obstructing the legal process in connection with the chase in Breckenridge a few hours earlier.
Jagers, who worked for the Fire Department for 24 years until his retirement in February, was charged last Monday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and threats of violence with reckless disregard in connection with the encounter that occurred on April 14 in the 4000 block of 17th Avenue S.
He was jailed on the day of the assault and released Thursday after posting $25,000 bond and agreeing to electronic home monitoring. Once Jagers is returned to Hennepin County, prosecutors will be “asking for higher bail than typical on the reckless discharge case given the danger posed by this new conduct,” Nicholas Kimball of the County Attorney’s Office said Monday.
The victim was 44-year-old Tellis Redmon, a running back for the University of Minnesota football team from 1999 to 2001. He is a special education paraprofessional and an assistant football coach for Cooper High School. Redmon escaped without injury despite the gun being fired next to his head as the two fought for the weapon, police said.
At one point during the assault, Jagers told Redmon he was a firefighter and would avoid getting in trouble because he knows police, the charges read. Also, Jagers called Redmon a racial epithet during the altercation, according to Redmon and another witness, the criminal complaint said.
Defense attorney Peter Wold told the Star Tribune his client “is dealing with mental health issues that he’s going to address” upon his release.
Breckenridge Police Chief Kris Karlgaard said Jagers aroused suspicions while at a gas station shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday for having shed his court-issued monitoring bracelet from his ankle.
Surveillance video from inside the Blazer Express gas station that was obtained by KFGO Radio in Fargo showed Jagers borrowing scissors or clippers from a clerk and cutting off the bracelet.
According to the police chief:
Jagers fled police Breckenridge on northbound Hwy. 75 only to head back to town. Police from Breckenridge and neighboring Wahpeton, N.D., and from the Sheriff’s Office put down tire-deflating stop sticks, but Jagers kept driving.
The pickup hit a sign at Hwys. 75 and 210 in Breckenridge and stopped there. Jagers got out of the truck holding a bow. Officers deployed less than lethal rounds and arrested Jagers shortly after 8 a.m. as he resisted arrest. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries from the officers’ bean bag rounds.
Wold said Monday he was unaware of Jagers’ troubles in western Minnesota and had no information about his client’s release from the Hennepin County jail.
The charges in Hennepin County say that when questioned by police, Jagers said his anger “went sideways” when he saw Redmon drive over a board near his garage and demanded that the board be picked up.
Barely 30 minutes before the incident behind his home, Jagers stood outside a Minneapolis fire station on the North Side and fired a handgun, according to a police report. He explained later to police that he went there to lift weights with his former fellow firefighters [and] fired a shot “because he thought it would be funny to do so,” the criminal complaint read. The County Attorney’s Office said it is has yet to charge Jager for that gunfire.
Fire Chief Bryan Tyner told the Star Tribune that Jagers drove up to fire station, told firefighters there he had a gun, “grabbed it from his pickup truck, fired it in the air and took off.” A public works employee nearby first alerted police to the gunfire, Tyner said.
After months of maintenance problems and safety concerns in downtown St. Paul’s Lowry Apartments, city officials condemned the building, forcing dozens of tenants to abruptly relocate to hotels this week.
On Monday afternoon, city staff responded to a plumbing leak in the 11-story building at 345 Wabasha St. N. Officials reported significant damage and signs of vandalism, including copper wire theft that left electrical systems exposed. The leak also raised concerns about mold.
To make repairs, the building’s water must be shut off — a move that would leave tenants without boiler heat and fire sprinklers, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher said in a Tuesday email to state Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega and City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represent the area.
After determining heat and water could not be restored quickly, Tincher wrote: “There was no other option than to conclude the building was not safe for residents to stay.”
Property manager Halverson and Blaiser Group (HBG) agreed to provide alternative housing for tenants for up to 30 days, Tincher said. City staff worked with Ramsey County’s Housing Stability team and Metro Transit to help 71 residents pack and move.
Before then, the building belonged to downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, Madison Equities. After the January death of the company’s founder and longtime principal, Jim Crockarell, the dire state of the group’s real estate portfolio became apparent.
The Lowry Apartments, the sole property with a high concentration of low-income housing, quickly became the most troubled. Residents reported frequent break-ins, pest infestations, inoperable elevators and more, to no avail.
Star Tribune
Metro Transit allocated $12 million to boost security, cleanliness on Twin Cities light rail and buses
They will be soon. With more money to spend, Metro Transit plans to bring on 40 more this year. With their ranks growing, TRIP agents, clad in blue, have recently started covering the Metro C and D rapid transit lines between Brooklyn Center and downtown Minneapolis.
The big investment in public safety initiatives comes as Metro Transit is seeing an uptick in ridership that plunged dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slow to recover. This year ridership has been a bright spot, the agency said.
Through October, the agency has provided 40.1 million rides, up 7% compared with the first 10 months of 2023. In September, the agency saw its highest monthly ridership in four years, averaging nearly 157,000 rides on weekdays, agency data shows.
At the same time, crime is down 8.4% during the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same time period last year, according to Metro Transit Interim Police Chief Joe Dotseth. However, problems still persist.
On Nov. 29, Sharif Darryl Walker-El, Jr., 33, was fatally shot on a Green Line train in St. Paul. Just a week earlier, a woman was shot in the leg while on the train and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Earlier this year, a robbery attempt on the Green Line in St. Paul left a passenger shot and wounded.
“Our officers are spending time on the system and sending a clear message to everyone: Crime will not be tolerated on transit,” Dotseth said. “And we will work to ensure those commit those crimes are held accountable.”
The ACLU of Minnesota has sued Otter Tail County, its sheriff and correctional officers at its jail, alleging unlawful punishment of a man known to them who has serious mental health issues.
Ramsey Kettle, 33, a member of White Earth Nation and lifelong Otter Tail County resident, was jailed in February on charges that were dropped two months later. The ACLU says that the sheriff’s office attempted to cover up the mistreatment, but a whistleblower working at the jail reported the abuse to the state. A 46-page lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court of Minnesota.
“Mr. Kettle was subjected to extreme, punitive treatment in violation of his constitutional rights and standards for basic human dignity,” the ACLU said in a statement. “Otter Tail County officers, with approval of the acting jail administrator, kept Mr. Kettle locked up in solitary confinement for days without food, water, or appropriate medical and mental health care.”
Otter Tail County spokesperson Shannon Terry said in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune that “Due to the impending litigation, Otter Tail County has no comment or statement at this time.” Terry did confirm that Kettle was released from custody April 24, when the charges were dropped.
Kettle was immediately placed in solitary confinement after he arrived at the jail Feb. 9, the lawsuit says. Jail staff didn’t assess Kettle’s poor mental health, which the ACLU says was well-documented and known to officers. The ACLU says Kettle “exhibited increasing signs of physical and mental distress” and officers allegedly “laughed at him, mocked him, and left him to suffer.”
Kettle had been booked at the jail multiple times before. In March 2022, he was convicted of making terroristic threats and sentenced to two years. On the day he was scheduled to be released from Rush City Correctional Facility after serving his full sentence, he was charged in Otter Tail with four counts of aggravated witness tampering stemming from the conviction.
“Rather than going home on February 9, 2024, as he had anticipated for nearly two years, he was transferred to Otter Tail County Jail to await trial on these new charges. The new charges were unfounded and intended solely to keep Mr. Kettle incarcerated,” the lawsuit states.
District Judge Johnathan Judd dismissed the charges as lacking foundation.
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