Chased to the river, fleeing burglary suspect says: Call off the dog!

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A 29-year-old River Falls man pursued for an apartment burglary after 3 a.m. Friday, July 6, yelled to law enforcement officers in the distance that he didn’t want to be bitten. A St. Croix County police dog had the man cornered in the thick brush not far from the South Fork River on campus. The officers shouted back to the cornered suspect: Stay put and keep your hands up until we get there.

He did as he was told and officers found him behind the UW-River Falls Ag-Science Building -- wet, covered in dirt, but not bitten by the police dog.

At first the 29-year-old tried to say he didn’t know what was going on, that he had merely been agate hunting.

But he’s accused of breaking into an apartment at 237 Broadway St. and trying to steal a fishing pole and a laptop computer.

A male tenant there woke and chased him out, pulling off his backpack as the man stumbled to escape through the backward of the apartment and into the woods on campus.

River Falls police also:

--Arrested a 35-year-old Cedar Rapids, Iowa, man for battery during a downtown brawl after 2 a.m. Thursday, July 5, at the intersection of Main and Elm streets. The man was said to be acting crazy, stripping off his shirt and later making boxing motions and bragging that he’d beaten up three people that night. Officers threatened to shoot him with a Taser stun gun but he was arrested without incident. The Iowa man, who had a bloody gash on his forehead, claimed he had intervened on behalf of a buddy, a war veteran, was being mistreated outside. The male victim in this case, a 22-year-old River Falls man, had a large cut above the mouth. He was described as uncooperative and rude, refusing medical aid, not giving a statement, demanding a lawyer and threatening to sue police.

--Arrested a 25-year-old local man for domestic disorderly conduct in the 300 block of West Johnson Street before 6 a.m. Thursday, July 5. Officers found the suspect naked in the kitchen, trying to slip into his underwear. Things inside were broken and overturned, included lamps and glass vases. A hallway door was busted. The man at first blamed his girlfriend for the damage. She was found hiding in a closet with cuts, scratches and marks on her neck. She was very scared and seemed ready to scream. The man was taken to county jail.

There’s more. Please see Police Beat in the July 11 print edition of the River Falls Journal.

Tags: river falls, news, crime, courts