A Mankato, Minn., man is facing several charges after he allegedly beat a woman so severely that police officers “couldn’t see her eyes.”
The suspect, 23-year-old Paul Peter Jal, was “upset” because the victim was “wearing an American flag shirt,” a criminal complaint says. Jal is facing charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, third-degree assault, threats of violence, disrupting a 911 call, and damage to property.
The complaint says Mankato police responded to an apartment residence around 4:15 a.m. Oct. 2 after 911 received a call from a woman who was “screaming” as a male voice and “thumping sounds” could be heard in the background.
Police arrived to find a victim who was “soaking wet head to toe in water” with a bleeding nose and a face that was “swollen to the point that officers couldn’t see her eyes.”
“Officers entered the apartment and observed water all over the floor, broken plastic on the kitchen floor, and several cell phones that had cracks on the screen,” the complaint says.
Jal allegedly choked the victim, punched her repeatedly, and attacked her with a towel rack he ripped out of the wall. The victim said Jal stabbed her and police “observed a puncture wound.”
During the attack, Jal threatened to kill the victim and “told her she would die tonight,” the complaint says. The victim attempted to call 911 using the phone of another man who was asleep in the apartment at the time. Jal took the phone and broke it, the charges say.
Police attempted to locate Jal when they responded but couldn’t find him. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he does not appear to be in custody yet.
Jal has four prior felony convictions, including for threats of violence, drug possession, and fleeing a police officer.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
