Downtown: Man jumps from awning, tangles with River Falls officer who gets hurt

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In June a young man was on the rooftop above Steve’s Pizza Palace on Main Street and ended up falling through the metal awning to the sidewalk below. On Friday, Sept. 7, just after midnight, a 20-year-old UW-River Falls student slipped out the window of an apartment above Curves for Women on the other side of Main Street, landed on the awning, walked on it and eventually jumped to the sidewalk below. There he was met by a patrolling officer who had asked that he ease himself down.

The officer tried to detain the college student, but the student allegedly resisted and the two fell to the sidewalk.

While trying to detain the man on the ground, the officer said he was repeatedly kicked and struck. The young suspect lost his shirt, hat and backpack in the scuffle.

He finally broke free, running north on Main Street and turning east on Maple Street.

The officer sustained cuts, bruises and a sprain, plus his eyeglasses were bent and damaged. While not seriously hurt he went to the emergency room of River Falls Area Hospital.

Later that day police questioned those who were at an apartment party above Curves. They got information about the suspect, including cell phone texts he had sent about the incident. He was arrested at his upstairs apartment at 326 N. Third St. for battery to a police officer and resisting arrest.

Police also:

--Arrested an adult brother and sister from Baldwin in what seemed to be a vicious fight in the alley behind Bo’s ‘N Mine bar after 1 a.m. Monday, Sept. 10. The two were allegedly swearing and punching each other. The man, intoxicated, had been celebrating his 21st birthday.

A Bo’s bartender came upon the two in the alley. The man was lying on the pavement. The sister was sitting on top of him, allegedly slugging her brother in the face.

The bartender yelled for them to stop or he’d call police. The sister allegedly called back, “Do it!” before again hitting her brother.

Two parked cars nearby were found dented by their owners, allegedly from being banged by the brother and sister as they shoved and punched each other around. One dent was so bad the door wouldn’t open.

The man had injuries to his face, but he was also arrested. Inside a squad car he began deliberately spitting blood over the backseat interior. He was already on court-ordered probation before this incident.

When the 23-year-old woman was arrested, she admitted to have recently completed anger-management classes.

She said her brother had taunted her by asking that she hit him. When she refused, he slapped her hard in the face, twice. After that she said her actions were merely for self-defense.

The woman was on deferred prosecution for an earlier assault case against her brother in Baldwin.

This time the siblings were taken separately to county jail in Ellsworth. The case goes to the district attorney.

For more, please read Police Beat in the Sept. 12 print edition of the River Falls Journal.

Tags: river falls, news, crime, courts