A 52-year-old man is being accused of attempting to light a bed on fire as his victim was lying on it and then threatening "suicide by cop," court documents said.
Kelly Eugene Griffin, Fairmont, had his first appearance Tuesday in Crow Wing County District Court and was charged with felony terroristic threats with reckless disregard of risk; felony false imprisonment-intentional restraint; gross misdemeanor fourth-degree arson of setting a fire in multiple unit residential or public building; and misdemeanor domestic assault with the intention to inflict bodily harm on another.
Bond with conditions were set and his next court appearance is scheduled at 9 a.m., Nov. 18.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Griffin:
• At 6:31 p.m. Saturday, a victim went to the Crosby Police Department and met with an officer. The officer observed that the victim was shaking, stammering and visible upset. She explained that for the past several hours she had been assaulted by her live-in boyfriend, Griffin, at her residence in Crosby.
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• She told the officer that he had hit her multiple times and cut her hand with something. The officer observed her left hand had a cut to her middle finger with dried blood covering it. She said he had attempted to light the bed on fire as she was lying on it. She said he shut all the lights off in the house and was threatening "suicide by cop."
• The officer went to the residence and met with Griffin. He denied striking the victim and when asked about the bed, he said he accidentally dropped a cigarette onto it.
• Inside the apartment, the officer saw what appeared to be blood on the bathroom floor as well as on a towel in the bathroom and a sheet with two large burn marks on it. The officer also observed that all the light switches in the apartment were inoperable. The officer went down to the basement and located the breaker box where he observed that it had been switched off and not in the tripped position. The officer turned the breaker back on and the lights came on.
• Griffin was placed under arrest.
• A Deerwood police officer spoke with the victim who indicated she had arrived home from work and Griffin began hitting her head with an open hand and kicking her. She said she had gone to lay down in bed at one point during the night and he came in and attempted to light the bed on fire two times while making statements about killing her and himself. She said she had attempted to leave six or eight times but each time she would be blocked from leaving by the defendant.
