An 18-year-old Pillager man faces multiple criminal charges for fleeing from police after he allegedly broke into residences in the area of Willow, South Eighth and South Ninth streets in Brainerd.
Ridge Austin James Kinney was charged Feb. 28 in Crow Wing County District Court with two felony counts of first-degree burglary counts; gross misdemeanor fifth-degree assault; and four misdemeanors of trespassing, property damage, fleeing from police and tampering with a vehicle.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Kinney, Brainerd police were called at 10 p.m. Feb. 26 on the 1000 block of South Eighth Street of someone trying to get into a woman’s locked backdoor. The suspect fled and when an officer arrived in the area, two people described the suspect as wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and having a tattoo near his eye.
As police were searching for the suspect — later identified as Kinney — another woman down the street heard her backdoor open and saw the suspect in the hallway. Her husband asked the suspect if he was running from police and then he saw emergency lights. The woman went outside to make contact with law enforcement and the husband told the suspect he needed to leave. Kinney became confrontational and threw a flashlight at the husband. Kinney then reached behind his back and began to remove an item stating something to the effect of, "I have something for you," at which time the husband backed off and got out of the residence, the complaint stated.
The officer entered the residence as Kinney was attempting to get out through the attached garage. Inside the garage, the officer located Kinney, who was squatting down behind items, with his right hand digging into his pocket. The officer commanded him to show his hands and when he stuck his hands in the waistband of his pants, the officer deployed pepper spray. Kinney continued to refuse commands to show his hands and the officer used a Taser to subdue him and he was placed under arrest.
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After the arrest, police also talked with the resident at an apartment on the 1200 block of South Ninth Street, who stated she heard a noise from the back room and saw a man wearing a black sweatshirt with a face tattoo standing in the doorway inside her apartment. She told the man to leave and he walked out.
The next court hearing for Kinney, who was adjudicated on fourth-degree assault in 2017, is March 25.
