A Bemidji man is accused of attacking a person he had been dating with a knife during a gathering at a home and then pulling the blade on a Beltrami County sheriff’s sergeant who was trying to handcuff him, according to a criminal complaint.
Blake Thomas Gene Wagner, 27, faces a felony count of first-degree assault for using or attempting to use deadly force against a peace officer, a felony count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon causing substantial bodily harm, a felony count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and a felony count of domestic assault. The complaint was filed Oct. 19 in Beltrami County District Court.
According to the complaint, dispatchers got a report at about 4:30 p.m. Oct. 17 of an assault at a home on Division Street Southwest, where the victim was bleeding heavily from the face and the attacker had left on foot.
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A sheriff’s sergeant found Wagner walking on Division Street West. Wagner walked toward him with his hands up, and the sergeant ordered him to kneel and told him he was under arrest, but Wagner only partly followed commands and began to stand, the complaint says. As the sergeant tried to handcuff him, Wagner pushed back and broke free. The sergeant used his Taser, but Wagner kept running.
Wagner then pulled a fixed-blade knife from his waistband and yelled as he squared up on the sergeant, who drew his gun because he feared being stabbed or cut. Wagner threw the knife onto the road and was eventually handcuffed. Deputies found a knife sheath in his waistband and fresh blood and hair on the knife, according to the complaint.
At the hospital, the victim told an investigator that Wagner attacked from behind on a stairway, using a knife, while people were gathered at the home. The victim had a large gash on the right shoulder, cuts on both cheeks and a large bruise under the right eye, the complaint says.
The victim said the two had been in a relationship for a few months, were not arguing and that the victim did not know why Wagner attacked.
The domestic assault count is a felony because of Wagner’s previous domestic violence-related convictions, according to the complaint. The first-degree assault count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $30,000 fine or both.
