Rochester, Minnesota (KROC-AM News)-On Saturday, a Rochester man arrested on a felony arrest warrant is expected to face additional felony charges for causing a traffic accident while trying to avoid the police .

Rochester Police Chief Casey Moranen said that at about 5:45 on Saturday night, a police officer spotted 31-year-old Andrew Gustafson during a routine patrol and was on the 1100 block southeast of Second Street. West drove a car. Moilanen said that the police officer recognized Gustavus as a wanted criminal in multiple arrest warrants and turned around and started following his vehicle.

The police report on the incident stated that the officer then witnessed Gustafson driving through the stop sign at the southeast intersection of 11th Avenue and sliding down the road into the snowbank. After disengaging his vehicle, the officer saw Gustafson driving north on 11th Avenue.

Captain Moilanen said that when the ensuing police officer approached the row of vehicles waiting for a red light at the intersection of East Centre Street, he saw Gustafson's vehicle leaving the line and into the southbound lane of 11th Avenue, and then He drove into an intersection, where he was on the driver's side of a van driving east on Central Street. Another police officer witnessed the crash nearby. The police officer also saw Gustafson's vehicle hit a traffic light and hit a telephone pole at an intersection, and then he got out of the car and fled on foot. The police officer pursued and arrested Gustafson, who was detained after failing a sobriety test at the scene.

He was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital along with the two passengers in the van to check for injuries. Captain Moilanen said that the 55-year-old man driving the van escaped without any serious injuries, but the 48-year-old woman sitting in the passenger seat may have broken ribs and legs.

At the hospital, when Gustafson was taken to the X-ray room of St. Mary's Hospital, the police officer who arrested him walked to his police car and obtained an arrest warrant for a blood sample from Gustafson. The police officer returned quickly with an arrest warrant and found that Gustafson ran out of the emergency room wearing only the hospital gown.

He was re-arrested on the Generose parking ramp across the street from the hospital. Gustafson is currently being held at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center and faces a long list of possible charges, including felony driving a criminal vehicle and escaping from the police.

Earlier this year, Gustafson was also the target of a large law enforcement operation in rural Rochester. In the May incident, a state patrol helicopter helped search Gustafson on Friday if it was in an area southwest of Rochester. At the time, he was wanted in a robbery in 2020.