Widely shared videos show ‘reckless’ driver in stolen Kia as MPD squad car sits idle; Chief says ‘cops did their job’

Questions have swirled over why Minneapolis Police did not stop the driver of a stolen SUV after videos of the white Kia driving erratically were shared and viewed thousands of times this week.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed the content shared on social media was authentic and the Kia was stolen, but said the officer’s hands were tied during an interview on Wednesday.

Witnesses and other drivers on the road said they watched in fear of getting hit. The videos show the driver weaving through lanes and whipping multiple U-turns in the middle of city blocks. At one point, the driver was seen pulling right in front of an MPD squad car before taking off again.

Rideshare driver Travis Joseph caught some of it on his dash camera just before 7 a.m. on Tuesday as he approached the intersection of Lyndale Avenue South and West 27th Street.

“You know we’re like, ‘Oh, there’s the Kia boys,’” Joseph said.

“What was shocking, it was so early in the morning, I had a Lyft passenger in my car, and the most shocking part was the cops were sitting there. They didn’t move a muscle.”

Chief O’Hara says his officer did the right thing and followed MPD policy by staying put.

The police department’s policy does not allow for a vehicle pursuit simply because the car is stolen. The car would have to have been taken by force, some sort of violence, there would have to be a gun involved or some other serious crime, O’Hara said.

“If an individual is trying to just bait the officer into a pursuit, it’s not going to get safer once this, once the cop starts chasing them… The cops did their job. They had zero discretion in that case,” he continued.

“It is just not worth the risk of endangering everyone’s lives, especially if, at the end result, even if no one’s hurt, we arrest a couple juveniles, we bring them downtown, and they’re immediately released. It is completely senseless.”

O’Hara wouldn’t comment on suspect information, including whether the driver was believed to be a juvenile. He said MPD was working toward an arrest in this case as of this report.