A 25-year-old man is facing felony charges after he allegedly threatened to kill a driver near Second Avenue and Third Street South in Virginia on Oct. 31, then slipped his handcuffs and fought with deputies once he arrived at the jail. Darius Nathaniel Fields now faces four counts stemming from the encounter, including felony threats of violence and felony assault of a peace officer.
A Threat On Halloween Afternoon
According to mncrime.com, Virginia police were called at 3:17 p.m. on Oct. 31 after a report that a man on an e-bike was threatening people inside a vehicle. The caller said the man appeared to take a gun from another man's backpack but was not sure, the complaint states. The man on the e-bike rode away and then returned on foot a short time later, per the same account.
The driver later told a deputy that Fields ordered him out of the vehicle, pointed a finger gun at him, and threatened to kill him, the complaint says. “I could kill you, Imma kill you,” Fields allegedly told the driver, according to the complaint, adding that he would return in two minutes if the occupants did not leave.
Witnesses Give Conflicting Details On The Gun
Two witnesses told police that Fields walked up to the vehicle and made the same threat, the complaint states. One of them said she was 90% sure she saw him quickly take a handgun from another man's backpack and put it in his pocket, while another witness said the other man photographed Fields holding the handgun, according to the complaint. Witnesses also reported seeing Fields point finger guns at the driver, though no one reported seeing an actual handgun pointed at anyone, the complaint notes.
Police found and detained Fields because he matched the description given by callers, the article notes. Fields told officers he had a phone in his pocket and that a caller may have mistaken it for a gun, according to the complaint — but no phone was found on him when he was searched after his arrest.
Cuffs Slipped, Fight Breaks Out At Jail
The confrontation did not end with the arrest. According to the complaint, Fields took an aggressive stance when officers asked him to exit the squad car for rear handcuffing, and he told them he expected to catch a new case and that he was ready to fight. He then allegedly slipped his cuffed hands from behind his back to the front while being taken into the jail.
Fields lunged at an officer with his head and began fighting, the complaint alleges, and he scratched a deputy's head, leaving marks. He is also accused of kicking an officer's body-worn camera to the ground and kicking an officer in the leg while being brought inside. Officers cuffed him again only after taking him to the floor, according to the complaint.
Charges Filed In Saint Louis County
The complaint, filed Nov. 2, charges Fields with felony threats of violence and felony fourth-degree assault of a peace officer causing demonstrable bodily harm, along with gross misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree assault of a peace officer and obstructing legal process with force. Minnesota's threats-of-violence statute, as excerpted by the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, covers threatening, directly or indirectly, to commit a crime of violence with the purpose of terrorizing another person or causing an evacuation or serious public inconvenience.
A separate statutory excerpt, also from the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes, notes that assaulting a peace officer and causing demonstrable bodily harm can carry imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to $6,000, or both — though the excerpt does not spell out how that penalty structure applies to this case. The case will move through Saint Louis County District Court, where the County Attorney's Office prosecutes felonies through the Sixth Judicial District, which hears cases at courthouses in Duluth, Hibbing and Virginia. Saint Louis County is Minnesota's largest county by area, stretching from Duluth to the Canadian border.
