An Oakdale man will spend the next three years on probation after leading police on a chase that included jumping medians, driving the wrong way down highways and damaging property.
Raymond Matthew Magnuson, 25, was sentenced Jan. 30 to just over three months in jail and three years probation on one count of fleeing a police officer in a vehicle, according to Ramsey County District Court records.
If he fails to abide by the terms of his probation, Magnuson would head back to prison for a year.
The incident took place Oct. 21 after Magnuson and another man were caught shoplifting from a North St. Paul Target. They fled in a GMC pickup truck and a police pursuit began.
In his effort to evade arrest, Magnuson drove the wrong way on roads and highways, jumped medians, entered an interstate exit ramp, damaged property and injured someone.
At one point, Magnuson smashed into the front end of a squad car that was attempting to box him in. He also hit two other vehicles during the chase, causing a chain reaction that struck at least two other cars. His driving caused about 10 other crashes in Maplewood and White Bear Lake.
One person was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A State Patrol helicopter monitoring Magnuson’s truck finally saw it stop in an alley near the 100 block of Genesee Street in St. Paul.
When police knocked on the door of a nearby home, a woman there told them that two men had entered the house, “claiming they were being chased by kids in the neighborhood,” according to the criminal complaint. Magnuson was found hiding in the bathroom, along with keys to a GMC vehicle and a bag of suspected methamphetamine.
He denied he was the driver and also told police he had ingested both meth and heroin. Officers found his companion in the laundry room, the complaint said.