Minnesota motorist hits cop with hammer after dragging him with truck, cops say

A 61-year-old Minnesota man was arrested after police say he attacked a retail worker with a piece of lumber before dragging a cop with his truck, then bashing that officer with a hammer.

Luke Alvin Oeltjenbruns (Hutchinson Police Department/)

The Hutchinson Leader reports that Luke Alvin Oeltjenbruns from Hutchinson, Minn., became upset with a Menards store employee’s request to wear a mask shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday and went after that worker with a piece of wood.

The suspect left the store, but was reportedly spotted by police in a nearby parking lot and pulled over following a slow speed pursuit. With 31-year veteran officer Steven Sickmann leaning into his window, Oeltjenbruns tried to escape again at a higher rate of speed — allegedly using a hammer to clobber the officer who was stuck clinging to the side of the moving truck.

Cops moved in on the accused assailant and placed him under arrest. The injured officer was treated at an area hospital and is said to be recovering at home.

The fact that the alleged culprit appears to be a white man was not lost on social media users. It was noted that just a little over an hour’s drive from where Wednesday’s incident occurred, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is on trial over the death of Black man George Floyd, who died in police custody on May 25, 2020.

Another white police officer was charged with second-degree manslaughter Wednesday after a 20-year-old Black motorist was killed during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis on Sunday. There’s no indication Oeltjenbruns was seriously injured during his arrest.

At the time of the most recent census, Hutchinson had a population of just over 14,000 people, 95.4% of whom are white, according to Wikipedia. Hutchinson prides itself on its “small town atmosphere.”