Man arrested in connection with theft of houseboat tethered to Nicollet Island

Police say on Sunday morning they arrested a man who attempted to steal a houseboat that was moored on Nicollet Island in Minneapolis.

According to Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder, officers responded to West Island Avenue around 10:25 a.m. on a report of a missing houseboat that had its anchoring ropes cut.

Officers saw a masked suspect trying to steer the houseboat northward on the Mississippi River by pushing off with a pole. The boat did not have a motor when it was stolen, Elder said.

As the boat neared the shore several hundred yards from where it was stolen, an officer went into the water, grabbed the rope and pulled it to shore. Elder said the boat was secured to a dock on the 100 block of West Island Avenue.

Police say the suspect did not cooperate with demands for him to disembark from the houseboat, but officers were able to remove him from the vessel.

The suspect, a male in his 40s, was taken into custody just before noon on probable cause theft.

The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol and Minneapolis Park Police assisted in the response.