Name: Redwood Area Alano Club
Start: 2023-04-02T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2023-04-02T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Alano Club

A Blue Earth County burglary suspect allegedly escaped from a state-operated psychiatric hospital and stole a police squad car in Anoka County.

Prosecutors say 23-year-old Mattu Chuol, a suspect in two Mankato-area burglaries, left the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center without permission last Thursday. When officers arrived and found Chuol walking along a sidewalk, he spotted the squad car and took off.

One officer got out of her squad and began pursuing Chuol. Authorities say that’s when he jumped into her car and took off. A few blocks later he stopped in the middle of the road and surrendered.

Court records say Chuol was found incompetent in Blue Earth County in December 2019 following a Rule 20 evaluation. The Minnesota Courts website says such evaluations occur in criminal cases when there is a belief that a defendant “may not be competent to proceed with the case or was not responsible at the time of the alleged offense because of mental illness or developmental disability.”