TOWN OF RIVER FALLS – A suspect who escaped from a transport vehicle south of River Falls while enroute to the Pierce County Jail for booking Friday, May 15 added a felony to his charges thanks to his antics.

Dylan Michael Whalen, 25, Maplewood, Minn., was ordered to pay $2,500 cash bond in Pierce County Circuit Court May 18 on felony escape criminal arrest (repeater) and criminal damage to property charges. If convicted, he faced a maximum penalty of six years in prison and/or fines up to $10,000.

According to Lt. Andy Thoms of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded May 14 to River City Metals (N3941 State Road 35, Prescott) for a disorderly subject complaint. An employee reported that Whalen had come to sell some copper scrap and the owner recognized him as someone who had stolen from them before. He took Whalen’s ID and exited the office so he could call police. While waiting for police to arrive, Whalen tried to leave but employees physically detained him. He struggled and attempted to jump out of a window, at which point he was injured.

Whalen was taken into custody for criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct, a Wisconsin Department of Corrections warrant as well as warrants from several Minnesota jurisdictions including Wright, Washington, Rice and Scott counties. After his arrest, police transported Whalen to River Falls Area Hospital for medical treatment.

“Due to possible ingestion of a narcotic, he had to go to the hospital for medical clearance,” Thoms said.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office contracts with a security and transport company from La Crosse to provide assistance with transports, extraditions and taking people for medical clearance, Thoms said. At 3:28 a.m., May 15, an agent for Talon Protection Agency was transporting Whalen from the River Falls Area Hospital when Whalen told the agent that he was going to vomit, near Highway 65 and 770^th Avenue in the town of River Falls. The agent said he pulled the vehicle over and lowered the window about 8-10 inches. He said that Whalen then broke the door of the vehicle attempting exit and dove out of the window. He got up off the ground and started running away through a field, still handcuffed and in the transport belt.

PCSO sent out an alert to residents through its new app at 5:36 a.m. describing Whalen as 5’8”, 180 pounds, with brown hair, wearing a gray shirt, blue shorts and orange socks. Thoms said the alert sent out was not to incite fear, but to ask for the public’s assistance in case Whalen was seen hiding under a deck, in a boat or shed, or walking as there was a good chance he was still in the area. The public was instructed not to approach Whalen, but to call 911.

“There wasn’t a threat to the schools, the district or the public,” Thoms said. “He wasn’t armed. People usually hunker down, go in shed, a boat, or steal a vehicle. We were just asking people to keep an eye out in case they happened to see a strange person sleeping on a deck.”

St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office provided a K9 and drone team to assist the PCSO K9 and drone, along with additional assistance from River Falls Police Department. Thoms said they searched for 2.5-3 hours before someone called in after seeing a man carrying what they thought was a bundle near Highway 65 and 920^th Street (he may have been trying to hide his handcuffs and transport belt, Thoms opined). A Pierce County officer saw Whalen around 7:41 a.m. inside a tree line east of the highway where he had been spotted and called in. Officers threatened to tase him if he didn’t comply with commands to stop. He was carrying the transport belt rolled up in his hands.

He was taken into custody without incident at approximately 8 a.m., at which time he was brought back to the hospital for injuries sustained while fleeing.

Thoms made clear Whalen was not yet an inmate but was in the process of being brought to the jail as a suspect in a crime. The transport agent was not injured during the escape.

The damage to the Talon Protection Agency vehicle is estimated at $500.

Whalen was convicted of cocaine possession March 6 in St. Croix County. He is facing cocaine possession and resisting or obstructing an officer charges in an open Polk County case. Minnesota Records Online shows that Whalen was convicted of felony theft in Washington County (Minn.) on May 12, 2025. His next Pierce County court appearance is a preliminary hearing set for 2:30 p.m. May 27.

To sign up for Pierce County emergency alerts, go to https://member.everbridge.net/892807736726530/login or download the new Pierce County Sheriff WI app.