BCA identifies officer, woman involved in Chanhassen pursuit, shots fired incident

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) has released new details regarding the use-of-force incident in Chanhassen last week.

As previously reported, police said shots were fired during a vehicle chase on March 26 that ended in a crash and a woman being arrested later in the night.

On Tuesday, the BCA identified the woman as 33-year-old Amanda Nelson from Bloomington and the South Lake Minnetonka officer as Zachary Robertson.

Nelson was charged on Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault and one count of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle in connection with the incident.

According to the preliminary investigation, Robertson was on patrol when he conducted a vehicle records check for a car that belonged to Nelson, who had an active aggravated assault arrest warrant for her from Illinois.

Robertson tried to pull over Nelson’s vehicle, but she didn’t stop and a pursuit began. Another South Lake Minnetonka officer joined the pursuit and used a PIT maneuver to stop Nelson near the North Coop Restaurant in Excelsior.

The officer saw Nelson had a gun and told dispatch and Robertson over the radio. Authorities state that Robertson then drove his squad car in front of Nelson’s vehicle to stop her from driving away.

The BCA says that Nelson pointed a gun at Robertson, which resulted in him firing his gun at her multiple times through his windshield. Nelson was not injured and drove away from the scene.

Both officers pursued Nelson and used another PIT maneuver to stop her near Highways 41 and 5, which disabled her vehicle.

Nelson was arrested several hours later and was brought to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. She is currently in custody at the Carver County Jail.

Officials with the BCA recovered a black Smith & Wesson BB gun air pistol from inside Nelson’s vehicle.

Robertson has 18 years of law enforcement experience and is on standard administrative leave.

BCA agents are reviewing body camera and squad car camera video as part of the active investigation.