Excelsior Man Charged with Property-Damage Spree

An Excelsior man has been charged with intentionally damaging several vehicles and businesses early on the morning of March 20.

Russell James Doop, 23, is charged with first-degree damage to property, a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, compiled by South Lake Minnetonka Police Detective Mike O’Keefe, officers were called to an address in the 500 block of William Street in Excelsior at about 2:30 a.m. March 20 after a homeowner reported that someone was pounding on his pickup truck.

When police arrived, they found Doop, “extremely intoxicated” and bleeding from deep cuts on his left hand, according to the complaint. Doop was covered in mud and blood, police said.

The door handle assembly had been torn off the victim’s 2005 Chevrolet Silverado truck and was lying on the ground, and there was blood on the assembly, along with pry marks on the truck frame and blood smeared on the driver’s side door and windows.

Police asked Doop if he knew the owner of the truck; Doop replied, “I think it is my friend Nick,” according to the complaint. Officers asked why he was breaking into the truck, and Doop replied, “I don’t know,” according to O’Keefe’s account.

Doop was taken to a hospital and later told police that he was a “blackout drunk” and didn’t remember anything between the time he left an Excelsior bar and finding himself in a hospital, the complaint charges.

Later that morning, police received reports of more property damage in Excelsior, including a broken window at a business on Water Street and two damaged vehicles at West Metro Learning Connections on 2nd Street.

Police, accompanied by K-9 officers, followed a trail of blood droplets to a business on George Street and found a ladder adjacent to the building, smeared with blood. A commercial van parked next to the building appeared to have fresh dents; an employee of the business told police that the ladder had been moved from its storage location and apparently caused the dents on the van.

Officers followed the blood and scent trails to the home on William Street where Doop had been arrested. The damage total is estimated to be more than $1,000.

Doop is free on a $5,000 bond.