California Man Charged with Car Theft, Fleeing Burnsville Police

A California man has been charged with stealing a car and fleeing a police officer after an incident last weekend in Burnsville.

Abdiwahab Barkadle Sheikh Mohamed, 24, of San Diego faces a felony count of car theft, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and a felony count of fleeing a peace officer, which has a maximum penalty of three years in prison a $5,000 fine.

He is also charged with third-degree DWI and refusing to take a breath, blood or urine test, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to the Burnsville TraveLodge on Saturday to investigate a reported assault.

When they arrived, they were told that the suspects had left in a car with Nebraska license plates. Police were interviewing the assault victim when the suspect car sped through the parking lot. The victim yelled, “That’s my car!” and told police that he hadn’t given anyone permission to use it and that he was missing the ignition key.

Officers moved into the motel’s driveway to try to stop the car. One yelled, “Police! Stop!” and shone his flashlight into the car, but the driver accelerated down the driveway and onto the street, the complaint says.

The car passed within 3 feet of the officer who was signaling for it to stop.

Police began pursuing the car, which eventually stopped. The complaint says the driver appeared to be moving out of the driver’s seat and into the back seat; when police approached, Mohamed was found hiding in the back seat.

Mohamed was arrested and taken to the Burnsville police station, where he was asked to take a breath, blood or urine test. He refused, and told police he had been sleeping in the back seat of the car, according to the complaint.

Mohamed remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $40,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Aug. 22 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.