A Saint Paul man pulled wire out of several streetlights on Cottage Avenue and then ran from police, according to a criminal complaint.
David Saw, 35, is charged in Ramsey County District Court with two felonies: damage to or theft of public electrical equipment such as streetlights, plus possession of burglary or theft tools. The complaint was filed Nov. 2. When the complaint was filed, a judge ordered him detained with bail set at $50,000.
Police were called at about 7:49 a.m. Nov. 1 after a woman reported seeing a man pull wires out of multiple streetlights on the boulevard, put them in a bag and walk south toward the railroad tracks, according to the complaint. Officers confirmed wire had been removed from a streetlight.
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The city’s Real Time Information Center spotted the man behind a nearby home. Officers saw him running north and hopping fences. He looked back at an approaching squad car and kept running before he stopped and surrendered, the complaint says. He had a set of Allen wrenches and a socket tool. A search with a police dog turned up a black garbage bag in a backyard holding insulated wire that matched the wire left in the light pole.
The woman later told an investigator she watched from her window as the man lifted a ground access cover, opened a streetlight access panel, walked away when police drove through and came back after they left. She said he pulled wire from a ground access box, wound it up and put it in his bag. She recorded part of it on video, which showed him putting items in what appeared to be a black trash bag, the complaint says. She told police the city had recently repaired the streetlights.
Saw declined to speak with police, according to the complaint. Saint Paul Public Works told investigators copper wire theft is a problem throughout the city and that removing wire can knock out other lights on the same circuit, leaving streets, sidewalks and parks dark.
The complaint says Saw has prior felony convictions.
