A routine headlight citation on a Richfield street turned into a felony case after the driver allegedly threatened a police sergeant and then texted him his own home address in the middle of the night. Christian Thomas Barton, 27, of Ray, Minnesota, now faces a charge of threats of violence stemming from the encounter, which began as a simple traffic stop and escalated over the course of several hours into what the sergeant described as a genuine fear for his family's safety.
A Headlight Stop Spirals Out of Control
According to MN Crime, a Richfield police officer noticed a suspicious vehicle parked in a traffic lane near a public storage facility while patrolling near 78th Street West and Pillsbury Avenue South on September 21. The vehicle was registered to Barton, and the officer issued him a citation for an inoperable headlight. Even after being told he was free to go, Barton reportedly did not leave the scene, prompting a 911 call requesting a supervisor.
A Richfield police sergeant was dispatched to the scene, where the outlet's report states Barton made threatening statements to him, including a threat to send letters expressing condolences to the sergeant's wife and children. The sergeant ultimately left and returned to his office, apparently believing the confrontation was over.
A Midnight Call and a Text With an Address
It wasn't over. Around 12:11 a.m. the next day, the sergeant received a call on his personal cell phone, during which Barton reportedly said, “That's all I need to know.” Two minutes later, per the same account, Barton texted the sergeant his own home address — a message that left the sergeant afraid for his own safety and for the safety of the people inside his home. A local police department responded to the sergeant's residence to stand by in case Barton showed up there.
The harassment did not stop with the address. At 12:55 a.m., Barton sent the sergeant another text, this time commenting on the appearance of a woman who was not related to the sergeant, the report states. That message reportedly led the sergeant to suspect Barton was trying to locate people close to him, and an officer-safety alert was issued as a result. Saint Paul police officers arrested Barton at his business address later that day.
Barton's listed home community, Ray, is an unincorporated rural area in Koochiching County along U.S. Highway 53, according to Wikipedia. How he obtained the sergeant's personal cell number and home address within hours of the citation remains an open question.
The Charge and What It Carries
Hennepin County District Court received the charge filing on September 23. The criminal complaint alleges Barton threatened to commit a crime of violence in reckless disregard of the risk of causing terror, a standard defined under Minnesota Statute § 609.713 as threatening a crime of violence either with the purpose of terrorizing someone or with reckless disregard for the risk of causing that terror. North Star Criminal Defense describes the statute as covering threats made with the purpose of terrorizing someone or with reckless disregard for the risk of causing terror, according to North Star Criminal Defense.
The offense, once called “terroristic threats” before Minnesota lawmakers renamed it in 2015, carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, or both, per Leverson Budke.
A Statute Built to Protect Officers From Doxxing
Minnesota has a separate law concerning the public availability of law enforcement officials' personal information. Under Minnesota Statute § 609.5151, it is a crime to knowingly make such information publicly available without consent when doing so poses an imminent and serious threat, and the person knows or reasonably should know of that threat, according to the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes.
The case will be heard in Hennepin County District Court, part of Minnesota's Fourth Judicial District and the state's largest trial court system, based at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis, according to the Minnesota Judicial Branch.
The initial stop involved a Richfield officer, and a sergeant later responded.
