Prosecutors say suspects dragged trooper from vehicle
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Faribault County prosecutors on Monday charged two men in connection with a traffic stop last Thursday that ended with injuries to a state trooper.
Trooper Doug Rauenhorst and his partner pulled over a Jeep for a traffic violation and suspected that the driver, Montrell Antonio Smith, 29, and passenger Anthony Hector Enriquez, 28, were transporting drugs.
According to the criminal complaint, Rauenhorst was partly inside the vehicle when Smith accelerated. Rauenhorst tried to shift the Jeep into park, but Enriquez allegedly put it back into gear and punched the trooper in an attempt to force him out of the vehicle.
Prosecutors say Rauenhorst was dragged along I-90 before he fell out of the moving Jeep into the eastbound traffic lanes. Prosecutors say he sustained "substantial bodily harm." Rauenhorst was released from an Albert Lea hospital Friday.
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Smith and Enriquez, both of Milwaukee, are each charged with fleeing police, third-degree assault, and felony drug possession.
Police pursued the Jeep into Freeborn County. Authorities say Smith and Enriquez jettisoned about 16 pounds of marijuana as they fled.
Court documents say officers ended the pursuit "due to safety concerns" when the Jeep exited I-90 in Albert Lea.
Police found the Jeep unoccupied in Albert Lea, allegedly with a Minnesota State Patrol stocking hat and drug packaging inside. Smith and Enriquez were arrested Thursday at a nearby business.
