St. Paul police make arrest in officer's dragging

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Police have taken a suspect into custody on charges of assault for an incident where an officer was dragged from a truck while trying to chase down a man last week.

St. Paul police say a 38-year-old man was arrested Saturday in the case. Officers say the man was the "man in red" they were chasing last Thursday on Arcade Street. Police had been called to the area for the report of a man who had been harassing and following a girl in the neighborhood.

Upon spotting the suspect, they say the man in red took off sprinting. Surveillance video showed the man in red running down the street before a white truck pulled up. Police said a person in the truck yelled at the sprinting man to jump into the bed.

As the officer made a last-ditch effort to arrest him, jumping onto the side of the truck, the truck began to pull away.

Police say the man in red held onto the officer's arm and struck him in the face as the officer dangled on the side of the moving truck, his feet skidding on the asphalt. Eventually, the officer was able to free his arm and was sent tumbling into the street as the truck moved through an intersection.

In a post on Wednesday, officers say along with taking the 38-year-old man into custody, they were also able to recover the white truck involved in the incident that had been stolen out of the Highland Park neighborhood.

It's unclear if police have tracked down the truck's driver and front-seat passenger.