Star Tribune
Lawbreaking drivers spur plan to rebuild Ham Lake intersection
Last month, a Jeep driver heading west on Bunker Lake Boulevard in Ham Lake pulled into the right-turn lane to bypass a line of cars that had stopped for a red light at the intersection with Hwy. 65.
The impatient Jeep driver did not turn right, instead going straight and smashing into another vehicle that was completing a legal left turn. An Anoka County Sheriff’s Office deputy on routine patrol witnessed the “significant motor vehicle crash,” in which the Jeep flipped upside down and left the front end of a minivan mangled.
The Sheriff’s Office posted a video of the wreck recorded by the deputy’s squad dashcam on its Facebook page with the admonition, “Break the habit, not the law at the red light.” Law enforcement has seen too many dangerous traffic violations such as running red lights, and “it needs to stop,” the post continued.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation reports there have been 13 wrecks this year at Hwy. 65 and Bunker. That’s on top of the 103 crashes at the intersection between 2014 and 2023, the agency said.
Traffic volume has increased on both Hwy. 65 and Bunker in recent years, and the intersection is “beyond capacity,” said Joe MacPherson, an Anoka County traffic engineer. “With so much green time on Hwy. 65 for north-south traffic, vehicles on the side leg [Bunker] are getting more gutsy.”
That includes motorists like the Jeep driver who are taking chances, said MnDOT spokesman Kent Barnard.
Westbound traffic often backs up in the mornings as many drivers cross Hwy. 65 to reach nearby schools, and “drivers are choosing to go straight in the right-turn lane to make the signal, which is illegal,” Barnard said. “We would like to stress to drivers that they can’t go straight in the westbound right-turn lane.”
Anoka County is looking to remove that temptation by putting in an overpass that would carry Hwy. 65 drivers up and over Bunker. Any construction is likely four to five years down the road, MacPherson said.
A Minneapolis man has died in an ATV crash in northwestern Minnesota, officials said.
The wreck occurred mid-afternoon Saturday about 15 miles west of Park Rapids in Wolf Lake Township, the Becker County Sheriff’s Office said.
Jeremy Paul Mickelson, 48, crashed when his Polaris Sportsman 1000 went off Wolf Lake Forest Road at a corner, the sheriff’s office said.
Emergency responders provided immediate aid to Mickelson, but he died at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
Police in Eau Claire, Wis., solved two cases at once as they found a person missing out of Anoka County and arrested a suspect who allegedly scammed that person out of $32,000.
It all unfolded Thursday when Eau Claire police went to a hotel in the city about 90 miles east of the Twin Cities and found the person who was the subject of a missing persons case and learned that person had given money to a man posing as an FBI agent.
The missing person called Eau Claire police after realizing the money transfer was a scam. Officers went to the hotel after getting a description of the suspect from the victim. While on-site talking with hotel staff, the suspect walked into the lobby and police made an arrest, according to Shannon Hoyt with Eau Claire police.
The 40-year-old suspect, identified by police as Chetankumar Patel, was charged with theft by false representation, police said
Police recovered the $32,000, Hoyt said.
Police helping Anoka County authorities with the missing persons case have not disclosed any information about the victim.
This was the second case of fraud in Eau Claire within a week. In a different case, a victim lost $60,000 that started with an email about renewing an antivirus program. The victim was then contacted by somebody posing as a representative of the Better Business Bureau and later the FBI. The victim was told they were part of a scam and needed to pay $29,500.
The victim withdrew the money from a bank account and handed it to a “courier” who came to their apartment to pick it up, Hoyt said. The next day, the victim was told the transaction did not go through and needed to pay another $29,500. The victim withdrew the cash and gave it to a different suspect, Hoyt said.
A man was left with life-threatening injuries Sunday after police say a co-worker shot him at a St. Paul post office.
A little before 3:30 p.m. Sunday, officers were called to the Elway post office, 1715 W. 7th St., on a report of a person shot inside the building, according to a statement from St. Paul police.
Officers found a man with multiple gunshot wounds. He was take to Regions Hospital.
Police say they arrested the suspect about an hour later during a traffic stop near W. 7th and Madison streets.
Police said it appears the victim and the suspect knew each other as co-workers.
In a statement, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said it was working with local law enforcement to investigate the shooting and that there was no ongoing threat to the public. The post office is closed to the general public on Sundays.
Police squads were at the scene Sunday afternoon, and the post office parking lot was blocked off with police tape.
