On or about September 29, 2025 at approximately 6:50 A.M., Officer Ben Ehlers of the Prairie Island Police Department received a call from the Dakota County Sheriff's Department about a possible stolen car that was in the Treasure Island Casino parking lot located at [ADDRESS REDACTED] in Welch in Goodhue County, State of Minnesota. The owner was able to track the phone that was left in the car using GPS. The vehicle was reported as having Minnesota license plate number LSG 937. The suspect went into the house and took the keys, then took the vehicle.
Officer Chris Miles of the Prairie Island Police Department located the vehicle in the Treasure Island Parking in the Sky 9 area. Officer Miles told Officer Ehlers that the plates had been removed from the vehicle, and that the vehicle was occupied. The officers maneuvered to block the vehicle in where it was parked. The vehicle started to move and struck the curb. The vehicle fit between the front of Officer Ehlers’s marked patrol car with lights activated and Officer Miles approached from the rear with his marked patrol vehicle and emergency lights activated.
The vehicle did not stop. The driver was a white male with stubble facial hair, glasses, an orange ball cap, and what appeared to be short reddish-brown hair. Officer Miles followed the suspect with emergency lights activated, and the suspect failed to stop. They went around the parking lot and onto Sturgeon Lake Road westbound. Officer Ehlers attempted to intercept them at the casino entrance, but was not able to. The driver went west on Sturgeon Lake Road, then turned south on Goodhue County Road 18. When Officer Ehlers caught up, the suspect and Officer Miles were approaching the intersection with Goodhue County Road 19. Officer Miles had turned his emergency lights off.
The suspect vehicle disappeared southbound on Goodhue County Road 18. After clearing from the call, Officer Miles overheard on LTAC1 that Dakota County was in pursuit of the vehicle again coming south on Ravenna Trail. Officer Miles went to the area, and the suspect vehicle passed him at the Etter Bridge. Officer Miles turned around and caught up to the vehicle on County Road 18 and Sturgeon Lake Road. He activated his emergency lights and sirens. The vehicle failed to yield and continued south on County Road 18. The vehicle turned north onto U. S. Highway 61. There was a Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office squad at County Road 31 and Highway 61 with spike strips, so Officer Miles stayed with the vehicle to see if the deputy could disable it.
Once they got to the deputy, the driver went around the sticks and into oncoming traffic. I Officer Miles discontinued the pursuit after the suspect missed the sticks. Officer Miles monitored LTAC 1 while Dakota County followed the vehicle. The vehicle went into Minneapolis and was found abandoned near 36th Street and Minnehaha Avenue. Officers found a white male in the area walking around without a shirt and took him into custody. The male was identified as CODY RICHARDSON PITKIN, [DOB REDACTED]. Officer Miles looked at MRAP photo of the suspect, and PITKIN appeared to be the same person driving the vehicle that fled from him.
