St. Cloud pair accused of assaulting man, threatening to run over him, using racial slurs

Jordyn Brown | SCTimes

ST. CLOUD — Two St. Cloud residents are suspected of assaulting a man, holding him to the ground, threatening to run over him with a truck and yelling racial slurs at him Monday, according to a criminal complaint.

Aaron Charles Stevens, 58, is charged with two felony counts of second-degree assault and one felony count of aiding and abetting second-degree assault. Myrna Angelica Alanis, 41, identified as Stevens' girlfriend, is charged with one felony count of aiding and abetting second-degree assault.

The complaint said about 6:05 p.m. Monday St. Cloud police were dispatched to a fight at Third Street North and 19 1/2 Avenue. When they arrived, they found Stevens yelling and swearing at another man, calling him a racial slur and other derogatory names.

The man told police he arrived at Stevens' home to pick up a fan. When he arrived Stevens "yelled at him to get off his property" and broke a beer bottle and threw it at him. The man had a cut on his mouth and was bleeding when police arrived. He told police this was caused by the bottle.

Stevens "charged at him" with a tie-down strap with metal hooks for his truck, the complaint said. The man said he tried to use a hammer to defend himself but was hit in the face with the strap.

Stevens then held the man down on the ground and told Alanis to run him over with the truck. Alanis reportedly backed the truck up and revved the engine. Stevens later came at the man with an ax, the complaint said.

The complaint said the officer spoke to Stevens who said he "kicked (the man) in the chest twice and had (the man's) head near the wheel of the truck."

He also admitted to throwing the strap at the man, calling him a racial slur and threatening to hang him from a tree, the complaint said. The complaint said Stevens told the officer "He's an (expletive) (slur)... I'm a prejudice (expletive.)"

The complaint said police found the broken bottle, hammer, ratchet strap and blood on the ground where the assault happened. There were also skid marks immediately behind the truck's tires.

"We are taking into consideration the race-motivated aspect of this crime with respect to sentencing," Assistant Stearns County Attorney Kyle Triggs said Wednesday. "That could play a role in increasing the sentencing, dependent on the court and the jury."

State statute dictates assaults motivated by bias (whether it be race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected group) fall under fourth-degree assault, and face a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment and a $3,000 fine. Triggs said at most, it's a gross misdemeanor.

"Ironically, if we instead went with the fourth-degree bias assault (charge) it would be less of a punishment than the charges we filed," Triggs said.

Triggs said the level of charges Stevens faces are "much more reflective of how serious the conduct was."

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