Dakota County / Mom fled cops with kids in SUV, police say

A Farmington woman led police on a high-speed chase through Dakota County on Thursday as her husband and four young children rode along, police said.

Now, Rowena D. Brooks, 27, is in jail, her husband is in the hospital, and the kids have been parceled out to relatives.

"It started just as a simple check welfare, which we get quite a bit, but it hardly ever turns into something of this magnitude," said Sgt. Jim Murphy of the Farmington Police Department. "We're just glad everybody's safe."

Farmington police had been trying to contact the family since Tuesday, after relatives called authorities and said Brooks' husband was acting delusional.

"I guess he had referred to himself as the Messiah, and the next time people saw him and his family, it would be on the news," Murphy said.

On Thursday, police again tried to find the family. En route to the home, officers saw the family's Ford Explorer on Pilot Knob Road.

Officers signaled for Rowena Brooks to stop. She initially pulled over but drove off as an officer approached, Murphy said.

Brooks sped north on Pilot Knob, reaching speeds up to 100 mph as she blew through several red lights in Lakeville and Apple Valley, Murphy said. Two Farmington squad cars followed.

Ahead in Eagan, police were able to clear intersections and lay down several tire spikes. The devices deflated one tire, Murphy said.

As the SUV slowed after the 10-mile chase, a Farmington officer pushed his squad's front end into the passenger-side doors.

The chase ended on Pilot Knob at Yankee Doodle Road.

Officers arrested Brooks on suspicion of fleeing an officer, a felony, and took Brooks' husband to a hospital for observation.

Officers also discovered the Brooks children — ages 2, 4, 8 and 11 — in the SUV's back seat.

No one was injured in the crash.

When officers asked Brooks why she fled, she would not say and requested an attorney, Murphy said.

She is in the Dakota County Jail. The Dakota County attorney's office had not filed charges as of Friday afternoon.

John Brewer can be reached at 651-228-2093.

Rowena D. Brooks is in the Dakota County Jail. Her husband is in a hospital.


Source: twincities.com