Man Thought to Have Drugs Leads Hopkins Police on High-Speed Chase

on a drunken driving detail with Hennepin County accuse a Minneapolis man of leading them on a high-speed chase while pitching marijuana baggies out of his SUV window.

Officers reported that they smelled marijuana when they stopped a Chevrolet Tahoe driven by 30-year-old Lamar Javis Burgess in Minneapolis, near Dowling Avenue and Interstate-94, according to charging documents written by Police Sgt. Michael Glassberg.

A check on the driver’s license showed that Burgess has a suspended driver’s license.

Police said Burgess appeared very nervous and became argumentative, repeatedly stating that his license was not suspended. When the officer asked him to step out of the vehicle, Burgess shifted into drive and accelerated away, Glassberg wrote.

The officer pursuing Burgess noted that he appeared to throw baggies containing marijuana outside the driver’s side window.

The pursuit continued to the intersection of Olson Memorial Highway and North Bryant Avenue in Minneapolis, according to the charging documents. Burgess got out of the vehicle and lay down on the pavement with his hands to his side.

The straight-line distance of the pursuit was about three miles, according to Google Maps.

Burgess has been charged with felony fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, a felony with a maximum sentence of three years and one day in prison and a $5,000 fine.

He’s being held in Hennepin County jail on $20,000 bail.

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