Accused Phony Minn. Police Officer Starts Rolling Cat-and-Mouse Chase with the Real Deal

A man allegedly posing as a police officer played a rolling game of cat and mouse on Twin Cities highways with a real cop. He was stopped and got out of his vehicle in Edina, but then quickly drove off to evade arrest, according to charges.

Luke Aaron Reuter, 47, of Inver Grove Heights, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree assault, fleeing police and impersonating an officer in connection with the incident Thursday that spanned several miles.

Reuter, who also has gone by Luke Eischen, was arrested and jailed that same night. He has since been released on bail and is due in court on Nov. 4. The Minnesota Star Tribune has reached out to Reuter for a response to the allegations.

Investigators say a similar form of deception was used one night in mid-June when Vance Boelter allegedly knocked on the doors of two Twin Cities-area state legislators and killed House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and seriously wounded Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.

Boelter, 58, who founded a security company with cars and weapons but had no clients, was wearing a convincing police disguise, including a Taser, badge and black body armor, according to charges. Boelter was driving a dark SUV outfitted with emergency lights and opened fire on police officers when they found him at Hortman’s Brooklyn Park home, investigators say. He was arrested the next night and charged with murder and attempted murder.

According to the charges against Reuter:

A Maple Grove officer was heading south in an unmarked squad on Hwy. 169 about 9:40 a.m. when an SUV pulled up close behind him. The driver, later determined to be Reuter, continued tailing him at the speed limit.

After crossing into Plymouth, Reuter sped up, went around the officer to the right, and then moved to the left “as if to cut [the officer] off,” the charges read.

The officer activated his emergency lights and siren, waved to Reuter and said to slow down. The officer turned off the emergency lights and kept heading south.

Soon afterward, Reuter pulled up on the right of the officer’s squad while holding an object in his hand. The officer sped up “out of concern for safety, not knowing what was in his hand,” the charges continued.

Reuter then got over to the squad’s left side and appeared to point a cellphone at the officer before cutting off the officer, slowing below the 60 mile per hour speed limit.

The officer exited Hwy. 169 at Hwy. 62, only to have Reuter trail him into Edina. The officer decided at this point to request backup for a traffic stop.

Once both vehicles were stopped, Reuter, wearing a baseball cap with a profane message about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, got out of his SUV and walked toward the officer.

Reuter said he was wearing a body camera and pointed his cellphone “as if he was conducting a traffic stop,” the charges added.

The officer told Reuter that he was under arrest. Reuter got back in his SUV, and as the officer tried to block him from leaving, the SUV nearly hit the officer’s legs.

Hours later, police caught up with Reuter in Inver Grove Heights. A police search of his SUV turned up numerous red and blue lights, a flashlight, a camera mounted on the rearview mirror and four interior light bars.

A dispatcher told investigators that she took a call from someone earlier that morning claiming he had spotted someone impersonating a police officer on the eastern edge of Plymouth near highways 169 and 55.

“‘I’ll follow him wherever he goes, and we will figure this out,’” the 911 caller allegedly said, according to the criminal complaint, which did not identify the caller.

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