Minnetonka Man Charged with Fleeing Police After Traffic Stop

A Minnetonka man has been charged with fleeing police officers in a high-speed chase in which he drove onto a sidewalk in a residential area last month.

Maxwell Edison Palmer, 21, is charged with felony fleeing, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Palmer remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $10,000 bond. He was also arrested on a bench warrant from Hopkins, charging him with providing false information to police, possession of a small amount of marijuana and speeding. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled April 10 in Hennepin County District Court.

According to the criminal complaint, an officer stopped Palmer’s vehicle on Feb. 28 because it had a broken taillight and because Palmer had just gone through a stop sign at Wayzata Boulevard and Ford Road.

An officer approached Palmer’s SUV, told him why he had been stopped and asked him to step out of the vehicle. Instead, police say Palmer put the SUV in drive and sped away, leaving the road and driving onto a sidewalk in a residential neighborhood before making his way onto Highway 169.

The officer chased Palmer, but stopped the pursuit after Palmer sped around a squad car that was trying to block the road, the complaint charges. Police later found Palmer’s SUV at his home, but couldn’t locate Palmer.

He was subsequently located and arrested.