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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic
Minneapolis

Charges: Man shot at state trooper after I-94 crash

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A man opened fire on a state trooper along Interstate 94 after crashing his girlfriend’s car as she was driving, police said.

Hennepin County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Eddie James Freeman, 23, with six counts of assault, including against a police officer.

Prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint that Freeman grabbed the steering wheel of his girlfriend’s vehicle and crashed it along I-94 near Dowling Avenue in north Minneapolis just after 10 p.m. Saturday. The woman, who’s not identified, told police that she had just ended her relationship with Freeman.

Freeman later allegedly fired toward a responding officer who was en route to the crash. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified him as Trooper Mark Vande Steeg. The BCA said in a statement that Vande Steeg returned fire after he “came under almost immediate gunfire by Freeman.”

No one was struck, nor was anyone injured during the incident.

According to the criminal complaint, one of Freeman’s rounds hit Vande Steeg’s squad car, and investigators found a second bullet hole on the driver’s side door of the car belonging to Freeman’s former girlfriend.

Freeman also allegedly pointed his gun in the direction of a Minneapolis police officer, who “heard what he believed to be a gunshot.”

As more police arrived at the scene and surrounded Freeman, prosecutors say he tossed his gun away before spitting on a second Minneapolis officer who was assisting with the arrest.

Two passersby who stopped to help after the crash told investigators that Freeman fired toward them as they ran away.

Freeman remains jailed ahead of his first court appearance Wednesday.