Man Charged with Assaulting Eagan Woman

A St. Paul man has been charged with four felonies after an incident last week in Eagan in which police say he tried to break a woman’s leg during an argument.

Donatus Ray Harrell II, 30, is charged with domestic assault, violating a protection order, violating a domestic abuse no-contact order and fifth-degree drug possession, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.  

According to the criminal complaint, Eagan police got a 911 call just after midnight Oct. 7 in which the caller said, “I need help; I have to go” and hung up.

Police traced the call to an Eagan home, where they found the victim and Harrell in a back bedroom. The victim was sitting on the bed crying, with her right leg straightened in front of her, and Harrell was sitting on the floor beside the bed.

The victim said she had picked up Harrell earlier in the evening after she found out he was drunk and arguing with someone at another home, and brought him back to her house.

When Harrell woke up, he accused the victim of siding with the person with whom he had been arguing, the victim said. She told police he grabbed her by the bottom of her right leg and began to turn and twist it, possibly attempting to break it.

The victim said she screamed for Harrell to let her go. When Harrell left the room to smoke a cigarette, she said she called 911, then erased the number from the phone registry so he wouldn’t know she had called police.

She told police that Harrell had assaulted her earlier in the day and that her leg was hurt so badly, she couldn’t put her weight on it.

Police asked Harrell to step outside, and when they did, an officer saw him reach into his pocket, pull out an object and throw it on the floor, according to the complaint. The object was a napkin containing an ecstasy pill, police said.

Police searched Harrell and found $1,763 in cash and a plastic bag containing seven smaller bags that held cocaine, according to the complaint.

Harrell’s criminal history includes convictions for domestic assault in 2007 and violating a protection order in 2009.