On or about February 10, 2026, St. Louis Park police were in the area of 39th Avenue North and Fremont Avenue North, in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, where law enforcement's attention was drawn to a vehicle that had a lot of foot traffic coming and going from the vehicle. Police observed several people walk up to both driver and passenger side of the vehicle and a hand to-hand exchange occurred. Based on prior training and experiences, this appeared to be drug sales or exchanges. The vehicle displayed a rear license plate of Minnesota NAR-517 on a newer Kia Soul.
The driver was a mid-30-year-old black male driver and the front seat passenger was a mid-30-year-old white female. There was also no front license plate on the vehicle. NCIC checks on the rear license plate, NAR-517, came back as a stolen license plate out of Minneapolis. The license plate was for a 2014 Kia Soul which was older than the vehicle present in front of law enforcement. The vehicle started driving and headed towards Robbinsdale on Country Road 81 in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The vehicle was in the left turn lane at 41st Avenue in Robbinsdale when several fully marked patrol vehicles activated emergency lights to stop the vehicle.
A Robbinsdale squad went nose to nose with the suspect vehicle. At that point, the driver proceeded to place the vehicle in reverse, back-up and hit the vehicle behind him, and struck the curb. The driver then proceeded to place his hands up and he was taken into custody. The driver was identified as CHARLES RASHAD TATE SR [DOB REDACTED], Defendant herein, and arrested. The VIN on the vehicle came back as a confirmed stolen 2020 Kia Soul that was supposed to have Minnesota license plates JFA-600. Law enforcement found the keys for the vehicle in the ignition.
The car was stolen with keys in the vehicle. Defendant had an active warrant for his arrest for fleeing police in a motor vehicle in Hennepin County. In a post-Miranda statement, Defendant stated he rented the vehicle for someone in exchange for “meth.” The person he got the car/ gave the meth too and said the car belonged to him. Defendant stated the keys were in the vehicle and got the vehicle from a “lady and a guy” named “TT” and “John.” Charles claimed he was scared when he saw the police and did not notice the police lights that were directly in front of him when he backed up into another vehicle and curb.
Defendant did not have permission to take or drive this vehicle. Defendant is currently in custody for this offense.
