UPDATE: Charges filed against St. Paul man accused of ‘brutally’ assaulting officer with key during arrest

What started as a routine call for a St. Paul officer ended with him being “brutally assaulted,” the department’s assistant police chief said Thursday.

As the officer tried to take a 28-year-old into custody this week, the man struck the officer in the head eight times while wielding a key.

“He was essentially stabbing the officer in the head with the key,” said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

The officer was taken to Regions Hospital and required a staple to close a wound on his head, Linders said.

Police arrested Coni Lamark Shegog, 28, of St. Paul, on suspicion of felony assault on a peace officer.

The assault was the third on an officer in Minnesota in as many days.

On Monday, a woman allegedly tried to shoot a Minnesota State Patrol trooper in the head before he shot her in the arm near Moorhead. On Tuesday, a woman rammed her vehicle into the back of a trooper’s squad car in St. Paul and reached for his gun, according to a criminal complaint.

The St. Paul officer was injured on Wednesday when he responded to an apartment building on Cook Avenue near Westminster Street at about 1:30 p.m.

A 22-year-old woman reported she had an order for protection against a neighbor — who recently threatened her with a knife — but the neighbor had contact with her earlier in the day and allegedly wanted to fight her, Linders said.

Officer Dominic Dzik responded alone because the woman reported the neighbor was no longer there, Linders said. As he talked to the woman in the parking lot, a vehicle pulled in. She told Dzik the person in the passenger seat was the neighbor she had the protection order against.

Dzik went to talk to the people in the car and the driver, Shegog, began yelling at the officer, telling him to move his “(expletive) squad.” Dzik radioed for officers to come and back him up.

The officer went to the driver’s side “in an attempt to verbally try to calm Mr. Shegog down,” Linders said, but Shegog got out of the car.

Shegog continued screaming and cursing at the officer, advancing toward him. Dzik “tried to create distance, so he put his hand out against Shegog’s chest, but Shegog hit the officer’s arm away and yelled, ‘Don’t you (expletive) touch me,'” Linders said.

It continued several more times, with Shegog advancing and pushing the officer’s arm and hand away, Linders said.

When Dzik told Shegog he was under arrest and the man again struck the officer’s hand and arm, the officer deployed a short burst of chemical irritant, according to police.

Dzik tried to put Shegog in handcuffs, but the man swung at the officer and struck him on the top of his head multiple times while holding a key, Linders said.

“Officer Dzik did an outstanding job remaining calm, protecting himself against greater harm and keeping the suspect at the scene until other officers arrived,” Assistant Chief Kathy Wuorinen wrote in a message to police employees Thursday. “Even after backup arrived, the suspect continued to fight with officers. Then, even after he was taken into custody, he assaulted four other officers by spitting on them.”

Police also arrested the passenger in Shegog’s car, Erin Jeanetta Bohanon. The 25-year-old was cited for fifth-degree assault and obstructing legal process.

While Dzik was struggling with Shegog, Bohanon went over to the woman whom had a protection order against her and started swinging at her, Linders said.

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“This incident demonstrates the dangers our officers face on a daily basis,” Wuorinen wrote Thursday. “It’s important that the people we serve know this and understand what we know — even the most mundane calls can turn dangerous in an instant.”

The Ramsey County attorney’s office is reviewing the case against Shegog for potential charges.