A St. Peter man is accused of choking a woman in a domestic incident and striking both her and her infant child in a local park while she was holding her baby.
Luis Eduardo Madrigal, 31, is charged with two counts of felony domestic assault and one count of felony domestic assault by strangulation. Madrigal holds two prior convictions for domestic assault by strangulation in Blue Earth County 2016 and another felony domestic assault conviction in Nicollet County in 2019.
St. Peter Police received a report of a domestic disturbance in a local park at 11:43 a.m. on Aug. 2 and made contact with a woman who said she was assaulted and choked by Madrigal.
According to court documents, the woman said it was not the first time she had been assaulted by Madrigal. Earlier that day, the woman said Madrigal was agitated and picking on members of the family, when she told him to stop and think about the example he was setting for a child in the household.
Madrigal announced that he was going to leave the residence with the child, when the woman tried to stop him from leaving because of how upset he was. The defendent reportedly paced back and forth before grabbing her by the neck while telling her “You need to leave us alone and I am not going to hurt them.” The woman said Madrigal choked her for approximately five seconds and she told him to stop because she could barely breathe. Responding law enforcement said they observed red marks on the woman’s neck.
Madrigal then left with the child to a nearby park and the woman followed while holding her infant child. As she was following him, the woman said Madrigal threw a punch at her which grazed her and struck the baby in the chest. She continued to follow him and try to convince him to let the child come home with her.
In a statement to law enforcement, Madrigal said that he and the woman had been going back and forth arguing when he decided to leave with the child. He stated that she stood in the way of the door so he pushed her and exited the apartment. When she followed him to the park with the infant in her arms, Madrigal said he pushed her back, which led her to accuse him of hitting the baby.
The child told police that Madrigal pushed the woman while she was holding the baby after she had blocked the door to prevent them from leaving and that she then followed them to a nearby park.
Another witness who said they were at the park told law enforcement they saw a man pulling a woman by the arm and appeared to be trying to take the children away from her. They then saw the man and woman walking together back to nearby residences.
Based on this information, the St. Peter Police Department placed Madrigal under arrest.
Most Popular
Comments / 0