Accused of shooting helicopter on drug reconnaissance mission, Clearbrook man faces federal complaint

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal prosecutors have filed a complaint alleging three crimes by a northwest Minnesota man accused of shooting a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter flying a drug reconnaissance mission.

The complaint filed against Carstie Lee Clausen of Clearbrook, Minn., states a drug task force agent, who also works as a Polk County deputy, “received information from random people over the last six months that Clausen had possibly been growing marijuana on his property” about 16 miles northwest of Bagley, Minn.

FBI Special Agent Mark Meyers, in a complaint filed this week in Minneapolis, spelled out details of the mission and subsequent arrest. He recommended charges of assault on a federal agent with a dangerous weapon, damaging an aircraft within special jurisdiction of the United States and discharging a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/local/4092839-accused-shooting-helicopter-drug-reconnaissance-mission-clearbrook-man-faces