Woodbury Man Charged After Fleeing Police Outside Restaurant: Feds

WOODBURY, MN — A 38-year-old Woodbury man faces a federal weapons charge after fleeing police twice, including once outside a local restaurant, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announced Tuesday night.

Jason S. Kearns is charged with one count of possession of firearms as a felon. He was ordered to remain in custody until at least his Nov. 28 detention hearing.

Kearns has prior felony convictions and is federally barred from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time, according to authorities.

"I don't know why I didn't shoot at them last night," Kearns reportedly told his wife in a phone call, which was recorded at the Washington County Jail and reveiwed by the Star Tribune.

On Oct. 18, officers watched an apparent drug deal between Kearns and someone in a car parked outside of Kearns’s Woodbury home, investigators said.

Police initiated a traffic stop of the car, searched it, and found approximately a half-pound of methamphetamine, according to authorities.

After the traffic stop, investigators obtained a search warrant for Kearns’s home.

But as officers approached the home, Kearns fled on a motorcycle "carrying what appeared to be a package of methamphetamine in his jacket," investigators said.

Officers tried to stop Kearns, but he escaped, according to police. Authorities did find three firearms in his house, investigators said.

On Nov. 14, officers located Kearns in the driver’s seat of a truck outside of a restaurant in Woodbury, according to police.

Officers called for backup, and two Woodbury police squad cars arrived and tried to stop Kearns with their lights activated, accoring to authorities.

One squad vehicle stopped in front of Kearns’s truck and another approached from the side, police said.

Kearns accelerated and rammed the squad car head-on, according to investigators. Kearns then reversed the truck, drove into a curb, and became pinned by the two squad cars, authorities said.

Kearns then fled on foot to a parking lot across the street with a semiautomatic pistol, according to police.

With firearms drawn, officers ordered Kearns to drop his weapon, investigators said.

Eventually, Kearns dropped his own firearm, surrendered, and was taken into custody, according to authorities.

His firearm was a Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic pistol loaded with a round chambered and 11 rounds in the magazine, police said. Kearns was also carrying a large knife, according to authorities.

In Kearns’s truck, officers found methamphetamine, hypodermic needles, and a digital scale, investigators said.