Man accused of dragging, killing owner of vehicle he stole told police he "was just playing a joke," charges say

A man faces a murder charge after allegedly stealing another man's vehicle in Minneapolis and dragging and running over the owner when he tried to stop the theft.

The 34-year-old man is charged with one count of second-degree murder, according to Hennepin County court documents filed Wednesday.

The car theft occurred Saturday near 18th Street and Chicago Avenue. According to a criminal complaint, surveillance video captured the decedent — a man in his 60s — stop his van near Chicago and Franklin avenues, exit it, reenter and get out again. On his second exit, a man standing nearby got into the driver's side. The owner ran back to the vehicle and grabbed the door, and the man in the driver's seat "sped away while Victim was hanging on the open driver's side door," the complaint states.

The alleged thief "quickly turned right on East 18th Street causing Victim's body to careen in the air and the driver's door to open wide," the complaint states. The victim then fell from the car and the driver ran him over, according to the complaint.

Police found the victim in the street with numerous wounds, including "blunt force trauma injuries to nearly every surface of his head and body," the complaint states. He died soon after at a nearby hospital.

The driver continued on after running over the man, the complaint states. A witness said the driver briefly stopped and looked back at the victim before driving off. Police later found the van abandoned a few blocks away with the keys in the ignition and the decedent's dogs inside.

Multiple law enforcement officers and a witness identified the alleged thief, whose face was clearly visible on some surveillance footage, according to the complaint. After police arrested him on Tuesday, he said he did not know the victim, but "was just playing a joke and was going to bring [his] vehicle back," the complaint states. He told police he was unaware of dragging and killing the man.

The man has at least two previous convictions related to stolen vehicles, according to the complaint.