Bike cops nab bat man

The man wielded a metal baseball bat as he smashed the car windows around six in the evening on 18th Ave S in South Minneapolis on June 19th. Officers Tracy Lemieux and Steven Klimpke, on bike patrol, saw him and headed over. William Lussier, 34, bat in hand, jumped in his own vehicle and made a run for it.

Officers Lemieux and Klimpke gave chase, keeping Lussier’s vehicle within sight, until a marked squad car was in position to help make the arrest.

Back at the car with the smashed windows, off-duty officers helped Janet Hanks, 38, and her thirteen-day-old baby, who had been in the vehicle when Lussier was smashing the windows. Hanks is the sister of Lussier’s ex-girlfriend. The smashed windows “projected pieces of glass at [Hanks] and her baby,” according to the MPD Public Information Report. Lussier will be charged with damage to motor vehicle.

Lussier will not be charged with fleeing from police in a motor vehicle due to an apparent lack of “evidence that the suspect heard or saw the officer giving commands,” according to Sergeant William J. Palmer, Public Information Officer.

Ariah Fine lives and writes in Minneapolis.