{"id":73567,"date":"2026-11-15T13:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-15T19:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=73567"},"modified":"2026-11-15T09:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-11-15T15:40:20","slug":"baxter-man-accused-of-fleeing-police-in-brainerd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/baxter-man-accused-of-fleeing-police-in-brainerd\/","title":{"rendered":"Baxter Man Accused of Fleeing Police in Brainerd"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRAINERD, MN<\/strong> \u2013 (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a> \u2013 A Baxter man faces a felony charge after allegedly refusing to stop for police during an early-morning pursuit.<\/p>\n

Ekeichu Kevin Echman, 41, of Baxter<\/strong>, is charged with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.<\/p>\n

According to a Crow Wing County criminal complaint, the incident began around 1:11 a.m. on November 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Police allege Echman ignored repeated attempts to stop his vehicle before reaching a residence on Clearwater Road.<\/p>\n

Suspicious Driving Catches Officer’s Attention<\/h2>\n

According to court documents, a Brainerd police officer was patrolling near downtown when several vehicles left the area.<\/p>\n

The vehicles traveled westbound onto State Highway 210.<\/p>\n

One vehicle caught the officer’s attention near North Fourth Street and Washington Street.<\/p>\n

The driver reportedly slowed significantly while approaching a green traffic light.<\/p>\n

The vehicle then began varying its speed, accelerating and braking repeatedly.<\/p>\n

Police estimated the vehicle was traveling approximately 45 mph in a posted 35 mph zone.<\/p>\n

The officer also reportedly observed the vehicle drift onto the center line before correcting its position.<\/p>\n

Driver Allegedly Ignores Lights and Sirens<\/h2>\n

The officer activated emergency lights to conduct a traffic stop.<\/p>\n

However, the complaint states the vehicle continued traveling without stopping.<\/p>\n

The officer activated the squad car’s siren and later changed its tone.<\/p>\n

When the driver still failed to stop, the officer also activated the vehicle’s air horn.<\/p>\n

Despite those warnings, the vehicle allegedly accelerated to approximately 60 mph.<\/p>\n

The officer also reported the vehicle continued through a yellow traffic light without slowing.<\/p>\n

Believing the driver was attempting to flee, the officer eventually deactivated the emergency lights and siren.<\/p>\n

\"Ekeichu<\/a>
Ekeichu Kevin Echman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Second Police Department Attempts Traffic Stop<\/h2>\n

After the initial pursuit, the vehicle reportedly changed lanes while signaling a right turn.<\/p>\n

The Brainerd officer briefly reactivated emergency lights before switching them off again.<\/p>\n

A Baxter police officer then followed the vehicle and activated emergency lights.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the driver again failed to stop.<\/p>\n

The vehicle continued onto Clearwater Road and eventually stopped at the registered owner’s address.<\/p>\n

Police identified the registered owner and driver as Echman.<\/p>\n

Officers then placed him in handcuffs.<\/p>\n

Driver Claims He Mistook Police Lights for Ambulance<\/h2>\n

Following the stop, officers reported smelling alcohol and observing bloodshot, watery eyes.<\/p>\n

Police conducted field sobriety testing and administered a preliminary breath test.<\/p>\n

The preliminary test reportedly showed an alcohol concentration of 0.06<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The complaint does not list a DWI charge in connection with this incident.<\/p>\n

During questioning, Echman reportedly told officers he had been confused by the emergency lights.<\/p>\n

He claimed he believed the lights belonged to an ambulance.<\/p>\n

Echman also discussed an earlier traffic stop when he was learning to drive in the United States.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged seeing emergency lights during the November 1 incident but denied understanding the situation.<\/p>\n

Felony Fleeing Charge Filed in Crow Wing County<\/h2>\n

Prosecutors charged Echman with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.<\/p>\n

The felony charge falls under Minnesota Statute 609.487, Subdivision 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under the statute, the offense carries up to three years and one day in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.<\/p>\n

The case is filed in Crow Wing County District Court under 18-CR-26-4042<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Additional case information can be searched through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The allegations are based on the criminal complaint. Echman is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ekeichu Kevin Echman, 41, of Baxter faces a felony charge after police say he ignored emergency lights and sirens during a November 1 traffic stop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[3802,883,30754,2171],"trf_mt_town":[],"trf_mt_county":[],"trf_mt_topic":[29493],"trf_mt_series":[],"class_list":["post-73567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-clearwater","tag-dwi","tag-ekeichu-kevin-echman","tag-fleeing-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73569,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73567\/revisions\/73569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73567"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_town","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_town?post=73567"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_county","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_county?post=73567"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_topic?post=73567"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_series?post=73567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}