A teenage girl reported being beaten, dragged into a car and threatened with a handgun after an assault at a park. Police were called around 8:28 p.m. Sept. 16 to Carty Park near Grotto Street in Saint Paul.
Prosecutors charged Jonathan Jose Villagomez Martinez, 18, of Saint Paul, with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and threats of violence.
An anonymous caller reported seeing a man attack a girl and drag her toward a gray Dodge Charger. Officers stopped a Charger on Saint Albans Street and identified Villagomez Martinez as the driver. A 16-year-old girl was in the passenger seat, according to the complaint.
The girl was crying and appeared distraught but initially denied a physical assault. Officers released Villagomez Martinez and drove her home, where she later asked to speak privately with an officer.
She then told police she had gone to the park to avoid him. She said he grabbed her by the hair near the basketball court, pulled her to the ground and dragged her toward his car while punching and kicking her head.
Villagomez Martinez forced her into the passenger seat and threatened to kill her, she told police. Once inside, she said, he grabbed her hair and slammed her head into the dashboard.
The girl said Villagomez Martinez pulled out a handgun, racked the slide and pressed the barrel to her forehead when police initiated the traffic stop. Before officers called him out of the car, she said, he apologized and told her not to say anything. She told police she initially stayed silent because she feared retaliation.
The anonymous witness described seeing a man lift the girl, throw her to the ground and raise his fist. The witness left before seeing the rest of the encounter, according to the complaint.
The complaint describes a bruise beneath the girl’s right eye, a swollen lip and a chipped tooth.
