Donald Wynn Williams, who gained notoriety as a key witness in the Derek Chauvin murder trial of George Floyd, is again facing legal troubles.
Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) reports that Williams, 35, has been charged with third-degree damage to property and disorderly conduct for breaking windows at Eden Prairie High School earlier this year.
The criminal complaint states that Williams went to the school on March 6 to pick up his sick child but was not allowed into the building as is common practice for security reasons, EPLN reported.
The charges state that Eden Prairie police were familiar with Williams from a prior encounter and that Williams “has a history of making disturbances and being argumentative.”
Williams reportedly became argumentative when he was not allowed into the school to retrieve his child. “School staff explained the process for picking up a sick child and followed the procedure,” the complaint says, according to EPLN, which notes that Williams began making statements about “choking people out.”
Williams then reportedly punched a school door window in the view of a police officer and broke the window out of the frame, causing $823 in damages, EPLN reports. Williams was then banned from school property.
Williams was charged last year in Ramsey County with domestic assault by strangulation after allegedly attacking and punching the mother of his children outside the State Fairgrounds while they were on site to sell water to fairgoers.
Charges in that case were eventually dismissed due to lack of communication from the victim, which was reported by the Pioneer Press last month in a story stating that a warrant had been issued for Williams’ arrest in another case involving violation of a domestic abuse no-contact order involving the same victim.
Williams was a bystander outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis along with several others as the police encounter with George Floyd unfolded on Memorial Day 2020.
Williams, who is a mixed martial arts fighter, presented himself during the Chauvin trial as an expert on chokeholds.
Williams appears to have another active case on a charge of disorderly conduct from February 2022 during which he allegedly threw a container of mints at a Minneapolis gas station manager. A hearing is scheduled in that case for Wednesday morning, Oct. 25.
Williams does not appear to be in custody at this time.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
