A Coon Rapids man who served federal prison time for threatening to kill a U.S. senator is now facing state felony charges after calling Hennepin County dispatch and threatening to murder police officers and their families.
Brendon Michael Daugherty, 39, has been charged with one felony count of threats of violence, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.
On Saturday, April 25, Daugherty called Hennepin County dispatch and made numerous threats against members of the Champlin Police Department, the complaint states. He named a specific officer and said the officer should die and someone should hurt his family.
During the call, Daugherty told the dispatcher, “I want to murder all of you,” and, “I’m going to go right now and kill someone. I’m grabbing my keys and going out to murder.” He also said, “If you gave me your first and last name I would have looked up your address and I would have murdered your entire family,” and, “an officer has to die tonight.”
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The threats came after a traffic stop on Wednesday, April 1, when a Champlin officer pulled Daugherty over. During that stop, Daugherty told the officer he should commit suicide.
Within 24 hours, Daugherty called the officer’s work cellphone and told him he was tempted to do something to him during the stop because the officer is “a piece of s***.” He also said that anytime he gets pulled over he would look up officers’ names and addresses and “dox” them because “people like you who give out bulls*** tickets deserve consequences.”
On April 25, Daugherty also left a voicemail on the officer’s work phone stating that “all cops should die and their families should be tortured to death” and “I really really hope that someone genocides your family line.”
This isn’t Daugherty’s first time threatening public officials. In 2022, he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of interstate transmission of a threat after leaving two threatening voicemails on a U.S. senator’s field office phone. In those messages, he told the senator he couldn’t wait to kill them. He was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison.
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The complaint notes that Daugherty has a number of violent crime convictions including two convictions for fifth-degree assault, threats of violence, obstructing legal process, first-degree burglary and second-degree aggravated robbery.
Officers familiar with Daugherty were also aware that he previously reached for a knife during an interaction with the Coon Rapids Police Department. Police were also aware that he recently made threatening phone calls to a federal judge.
Officers were concerned about attempting an arrest at Daugherty’s home given the likelihood that he would not surrender peacefully. He was ultimately arrested during a traffic stop and is currently in custody.
Bail has been set at $30,000 with conditions including no contact with the victim and no possession of weapons. The felony threats of violence charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
