Burnsville Man Charged with Choking Woman, Throwing Her Down Staircase

A Burnsville man has been charged with domestic assault by strangulation and three lesser charges after police say he choked a woman in Burnsville this week, then threw her down a staircase onto a concrete floor.

Patrick Brian Johnson, 20, faces a felony charge of domestic assault by strangulation, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He is also charged with two gross misdemeanors: obstructing the legal process with force and interfering with an emergency call, each of which has a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine, and a misdemeanor charge of domestic assault, for which the maximum penalty is 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Johnson remained in the Dakota County Jail Thursday on an $80,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Nov. 17 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a Burnsville home just after 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, where the victim told them that she had run to a neighbor’s house after Johnson punched and choked her, then threw her down a staircase.

The victim told police that she has had a relationship with Johnson for about four months, and that he had come to her home that evening to return a food stamp card that he had borrowed from her. She said he forced his way into her home and began arguing with her, accusing her of cheating on him.

Johnson punched the victim twice in her chest and pushed her down a flight of stairs, where her head hit a concrete floor, she told police. Johnson then put his hands around her neck, choked her and smashed her head against the wall several times, according to the complaint.

The victim said she tried to call the police for help, but Johnson wouldn’t let her make the call. She said she was eventually able to get away from him and run across the street to a neighbor’s home.

The victim was taken to a hospital, where medical personnel noted numerous injuries on her head, face and neck, including marks on her neck “consistent with strangulation” and bleeding in areas of her eyes that indicated possible petechial hemorrhaging – a sign of asphyxia.

The victim had bruises and injuries to the right side of her face, and told doctors that the top of her head hurt from striking a corner wall when she was thrown down the stairs.

Police, accompanied by a K-9 officer, went back to the victim’s home and found Johnson hiding in an upstairs closet, the complaint says. As police approached, they commanded Johnson to show his hands and come out of the closet; instead, Johnson stood up, clenching both fists as if he was preparing to throw a punch, the complaint says.

Johnson continued to resist apprehension, and police used a Taser on him in several places before he stopped struggling, according to the complaint. He refused to speak to officers after his arrest.

Police learned that the victim’s brother was in the home at the time of the assault, the complaint says. The victim’s brother said he was asleep when he was awakened by the sound of his sister and Johnson fighting “very loudly.” He said he heard his sister screaming when Johnson threw her down the stairs, yelling that he was going to kill her.

The victim’s brother also told police that he heard his sister telling Johnson she couldn’t breathe, and heard banging noises that he thought must have been her head hitting the concrete floor. He said he didn’t help because he feared what Johnson would have done to him if he tried to intervene.