Richfield Man Charged In Attempted Drive-Thru Break In

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Two men, one from Hopkins and one from Richfield, have been charged with trying to break into a Burnsville business by throwing items at the drive-thru window, then fleeing police on foot when they were spotted.

Nicholas Leo Bressler, 24, of Hopkins, and Dallas Michael Clarine, 25, of Richfield, are each charged with two felonies: first-degree criminal damage to property, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and attempted third-degree burglary, which has a maximum penalty of two and a half years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The two are also charged with fleeing a peace officer on foot, a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. In addition, Bressler faces a gross misdemeanor charge of second-degree DWI, for which the maximum penalty is a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaints, a Burnsville officer on patrol saw two men dressed in dark clothing standing in the parking lot of an unnamed Burnsville business on Highway 13 just before 1 a.m. Aug. 7. The officer pulled into the lot and saw an unoccupied, running vehicle with its trunk open, parked near the drive-thru window.

The officer pulled around to the other side of the building where he had seen the men, but they were gone. The officer went back around to the drive-thru window and found many pieces of broken stone on the ground, a number of chip marks in the window and a damaged stone garbage can.

According to the complaints, the officer looked up and saw the two men running away. He ordered them to stop, but they continued to run. Police eventually caught the two men, who were arrested and identified as Clarine and Bressler.

Clarine told police that he had been at home asleep when Bressler knocked on his window and asked him to go “driving around,” which Clarine said usually meant they would drive around and smoke marijuana, according to the complaints.

Once the two men were in the car, Clarine told police, Bressler told him they were going to rob his place of employment. Clarine told Bressler he didn’t want to go, but when Bressler pulled up to the business, both men got out, and Bressler began throwing items at the drive-thru window, trying to break it, the complaints state.

The business owner told police that Bressler was an employee, and that the garbage can would cost $350 to replace and the drive-thru window repairs would cost between $1,400 and $4,000.

Bressler told police that he worked for the business and was trying to get inside to retrieve his headphones, according to the complaints. While he was being interviewed, police smelled alcohol on Bressler’s breath and noted that his eyes were bloodshot and watery. According to the complaint, he failed several field sobriety tests and submitted to a breath test, which showed his blood-alcohol content at .20 percent.

Both men remain in the Dakota County Jail, Bressler on a $40,000 bond and Clarine on a $10,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in Clarine’s case is scheduled Aug. 28 and in Bressler’s case Sept. 4, both in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.