Donovan Goodman pleads guilty in carjacking that led to dog being thrown out window onto I-694
MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minneapolis man pleaded guilty to federal charges related to a carjacking spree in January, in which a dog was tossed from a truck onto a busy highway.
Donovan Goodman, 33, was charged in March with two counts of carjacking and one count of brandishing a firearm.
Ramsey County Sheriff's deputies tried to initiate a traffic stop on a truck that Goodman was driving on Jan. 30. Goodman fled the deputy, going above the speed limit and in the wrong way of traffic. Deputies were able to disable the car, but Goodman fled and approached another car that had stopped on Interstate 694.
He yelled at the occupants to get out of the car, pointing a firearm at them. During a chase on the interstate, a dog named Taho was thrown from the truck.
Then in February, Goodman and another man were spotted in the carjacked vehicle in a downtown parking lot. An officer deployed a Taser to subdue Goodman, who rolled over and pointed a handgun with a red laser sight at the officer. The officer took cover while Goodman escaped.
Later, an Uber driver contacted the police, saying he had picked up passengers in downtown Minneapolis when Goodman approached the car and offered the occupants $100 to let him join the Uber ride. Once inside, Goodman pulled out a gun, pointed it at the back of the driver's head, and made everyone get out of the car. Goodman later fled in the car.
Police were able to track his cell phone to a home in St. Paul, where he was taken into custody.
Goodman's sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
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Another man, Chue Feng Yang, who was wanted in connection to the January carjacking, was shot and killed by a federal agent in April during a standoff. Yang had a hostage tied to his torso and a shotgun pointed at her head when he emerged from the north Minneapolis home after roughly six hours.
Taho, the dog, was euthanized.
