Minneapolis man facing several charges after allegedly driving drunk in stolen car
Hunter
11/20/21
A Minneapolis man faces several charges after allegedly driving drunk and leaving the scene, eluding police twice, all in a stolen vehicle.
Police say just before 5:30 pm Wednesday, 29-year-old David Wilkes caused an accident in front of an officer at Mormon Trek Boulevard near the intersection of West Side Drive. He allegedly took off southbound on Mormon Trek, so the officer turned on his lights and pulled him over. Wilkes said he didn’t have ID on him, and police say he had the odor of ingested alcohol, had slurred speech and stumbled a few times.
When the officer went back to his squad car to run the information he had, Wilkes allegedly closed his driver’s side door and sped away. Wilkes was several hundred yards ahead by the time the officer got to the intersection of Mormon Trek and Highway 1 and eventually police lost sight of him.
Wilkes was spotted at around 7:45pm after his 2016 Chevy Malibu was called in as a suspicious vehicle in the Lake Ridge Manufactured Housing Community. An officer identified the vehicle as the same one that was involved in the accident earlier, and activated lights and siren to initiate a traffic stop. Wilkes, however, reportedly accelerated away at a high speed, stopped, and accelerated again.
Deputies deployed stop sticks to get Wilkes apprehended, but he allegedly continued on until he was eventually stopped on South Riverside Drive a short time later. He refused Datamaster testing.
Wilkes is also accused of using the name of Kendall Robert Ray long enough to be processed for OWI, booked and fingerprinted in jail under that name. It was then found that the Chevy Wilkes was driving was reportedly stolen from Ray. Ray told authorities Wilkes had no right to possess or operate his vehicle, and advised he tried to report it stolen to local police but was told to wait for more time to elapse. Once Wilkes’ identity was verified, a check of his driving record showed two previous OWI’s in Minnesota.
Wilkes faces several charges, including 1st degree Theft, 3rd offense OWI, two charges of Eluding, Driving while Suspended, Malicious Prosecution, and Providing False Identification Information. If convicted on all counts, he faces a prison sentence of over 27 years.