A man who told Winona police he could not recall what the argument was about ended up with a fracture in the floor of his left eye socket, a broken nose and a cut cheek after two men confronted him on a sidewalk on Sept. 13, according to a criminal complaint. A 23-year-old Cottage Grove man is charged with felony assault.
Police were sent at about 10:54 p.m. on a report that two men were assaulting another man. An officer found the man with a bloody face from a cut on his left cheek and his left eye swelling shut. An ambulance took him to Winona Health. He was later transferred to a hospital in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He told police he was walking on the sidewalk when two men began arguing with him and then started to punch and kick him.
Two witnesses sitting in a vehicle in front of where the assault happened told police the man was being followed along the sidewalk by two men. One witness said the men argued with him, then one of them pushed him to the ground twice, climbed on top of him and punched him in the face about five times. The attacker then got up and kicked him twice while he lay on the ground. The witnesses described the attacker as wearing a purple shirt and said the man did nothing wrong. One said the other man tried to get the man in the purple shirt to stop.
READ MORE → Winona County coverage
While officers were speaking with the witnesses, another officer found Jack Thomas Kehborn in a black baseball cap, a purple Minnesota Vikings T-shirt and black shorts. The complaint does not say the witnesses identified him. Officers arrested Kehborn after he did not answer an officer’s question about speaking with them.
Kehborn later told an officer that he and a friend were outside a local business when a man approached them “looking for a fight” and shoved him to the ground near some steps. He said he ran away to avoid a fight. The officer noted scrapes and bruising on both of his knees and a slightly red nose. The officer smelled alcohol on him. A preliminary breath test showed 0.17%.
Kehborn is charged in Winona County District Court in a complaint filed Nov. 3 with third-degree assault causing substantial bodily harm, a felony that carries up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was issued a summons. The complaint does not state a court date.
