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Man breaks St. Paul woman's arm in 6th incident with same victim, charges say
[May 24, 2012]

Man breaks St. Paul woman's arm in 6th incident with same victim, charges say


May 24, 2012 (Pioneer Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A Minneapolis man is in jail again for his sixth domestic-violence-related charge in 10 months involving the same alleged victim. The latest incident left the woman with a badly broken arm.

It happened 10 days after a Ramsey County judge gave Tyrone Pierre Higgins, 24, two weeks to turn himself in on a probation violation from another incident.

On Sunday, May 20, the woman called 911 from a St. Paul house in the 400 block of Pierce Street. The 911 operator heard a male yelling and sounds of an apparent fight.


The man told someone, "We gotta go, now!" The dispatcher heard people getting into a vehicle. "They are calling the police now," someone said. "The faster you move, the better! They are coming!" Those allegations were in a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court. Higgins was charged with third-degree assault and felony domestic assault. He was booked into the Ramsey County jail and held on $40,000 bail.

Additional details from the complaint: The 911 operator continued to hear two men talking.

One said, "I think I broke her arm," and then: "You can be my alibi. Say I was at church or something." The call then disconnected.

Higgins and his ex-girlfriend have a 2-year-old boy in common. She is 13 weeks pregnant by another man.

One of the first officers on the scene saw the woman crying and wincing in pain, with her arm "hanging limp by her side." The 23-year-old woman told police that a no-contact order barred Higgins from communicating with her or seeing her. Nevertheless, she said, he came to her apartment about 11 a.m. Sunday, saying he wanted to see his son and cut his hair.

"She thought he would visit and then leave, so she allowed him to come," the complaint said.

Higgins then said he wanted to take some property, but he needed to wait for a ride that wouldn't show up until 1 or 1:30 p.m. The woman told him to leave, but he refused.

Higgins continued to argue when his ride arrived.

She told police that she dialed 911 on her cell phone. Higgins came up behind her, grabbed her arm and twisted it up. She heard a pop and told Higgins he had broken her arm; he said he didn't give a (expletive) and left the apartment with her phone.

Medical staff at Regions Hospital said the woman's arm fracture was "comminuted," meaning the bone was fragmented into pieces. They said it would likely require surgery.

Higgins told police after his arrest that he went to his ex-girlfriend's apartment to collect some belongings.

"He said (she) was moody due to her pregnancy and became rude," the complaint said.

Higgins initially denied he took her phone. After an investigator told him the phone line remained open while he was in the car, he admitted he asked the other man to give him an alibi, and admitted he yanked the woman's arm to wrest the phone from her, according to the complaint.

There has been history of violence in the relationship for more than 18 months, according to court records.

The woman obtained on Oct. 7, 2010, an order for protection against Higgins that bared him from having contact with her or their son for two years.

Higgins has been in and out of court -- and jail -- since July 11, 2011. That was the date of the first incident for which he was charged involving the woman.

On that date, he pushed her to the ground at their St. Paul residence and hit her, causing a cut on her neck. When police arrived, she was "heavily crying and sobbing," the complaint said.

On Aug. 21, 2011, the woman said he assaulted her again, violating the no-contact order.

On Aug. 22, 2011, he pleaded guilty in the July 11 case.

On Aug. 23 and 24, 2011, he sent emails to the woman in which he inquired about meeting her at her State Fair job, according to a complaint.

On Oct. 13, Higgins was sentenced on the July 11 and Aug. 21 cases. Judge Robyn Millenacker gave him the 55 days he had served in jail.

The same day, Oct. 13, another judge sentenced Higgins on the Aug. 23 and Aug. 24 case. Judge Rosanne Nathanson sentenced him to 50 days of time already served, and put him on probation for two years. She ordered that he faced a year in jail if he violated that probation.

Higgins allegedly did just that April 1, when he assaulted her in the Pierce Street apartment. The woman told police he had been living there since Thanksgiving 2011, a complaint said. He became angry because their toddler accidentally head-butted him in the testicles. He responded, "What the (expletive)! When you get older, I am going to punch you in the balls!" according to a criminal complaint.

Three days later, on April 4, the woman told police Higgins had been sending her text messages. He was charged with another violation of a protection order; that case is pending.

He admitted the April 1 probation violation in Judge Nathanson's courtroom May 10; she added 45 days to his sentence, but allowed him two weeks to turn himself in.

He was scheduled to begin that sentence Thursday, but before that happened, he assaulted his ex-girlfriend in the incident in which her arm was broken, the complaint said.

Nathanson's law clerk responded to a request for comment from the judge; he said she was unavailable Thursday.

Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522. Follow her at twitter.com/emilygurnon.

___ (c)2012 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Visit the Pioneer Press (St.

Paul, Minn.) at www.twincities.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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