Driver of stolen vehicle hits squad vehicle in Arden Hills

A Ramsey County squad vehicle was hit by another vehicle near Arden Hills late Wednesday.

According to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department, at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, Deputies were attempting to locate a suspect in a stolen vehicle that had fled the Mounds View Police. The suspect was last seen on Mounds View Boulevard and County Road H approaching the 35W interchange.

As a Deputy was en route to the area to search for the suspect, the suspect vehicle struck the Deputy’s squad car. At the time of the crash, the Deputy’s squad car had its emergency lights on and was proceeding through a green light. The Deputy’s squad car was struck on westbound Highway 96 as the suspect vehicle was exiting southeast Highway 10 onto Highway 96.

After the Deputy’s squad car was hit, it spun around and struck another vehicle before catching fire.

Both the driver of the stolen vehicle and the officer were hospitalized but are expected to be OK. In an update from the Ramsey County Deputies’ Federation Thursday, the officer’s injuries consisted of "a broken knee cap, broken toe, possible head injury, fractured ribs and a bruised lung."

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS spoke with Allison Schaber, President of the Ramsey County Deputies’ Federation about their critcism of the criminal justice system.

"We feel that the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has been lacking on holding offenders accountable, especially repeat offenders and we can all see that crime is on the rise political leaders are constantly voicing their opinion that offenders are not at fault for their own actions and society is," said Allison Schaber, President of the Federation. "I feel there is room for improvement and we should go back to the model where we’re acutally holding people accountable for their actions and not someone else."

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office provided this statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS…"We have not received any information or a case regarding this incident from law enforcement for charging consideration. Therefore, it is difficult to respond not knowing who the individual is that was actually involved in the incident described on Facebook. However, we have full confidence that we have done everything right with regard to our past response to this person, whoever they might be, as we take seriously our response to individuals who have repeated criminal conduct. We look forward to being able to respond more fully once we can get a suspect name and complete information from law enforcement when this case is submitted for prosecution review."