Charges: Man attacked, seriously hurt after bumping into stranger in downtown Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A man was hospitalized for days and put on a feeding tube after police say he was attacked when he bumped into a stranger in downtown Minneapolis.
At least one man is now facing charges in the brutal attack that happened in the early morning hours of July 9.
According to the criminal complaint, officers were called to Hennepin County Medical Center the following day for the report of the assault. At the hospital, the victim's friend, who witnessed the assault, told officers the victim was attacked after leaving a bar as it was closing.
The two were in the area of Hennepin and 5th Street when the victim accidentally bumped into another man on the crowded sidewalk. The other man, who police later identified as DeShun DeWayne Taylor, then pushed the victim and started attacking him.
Police say surveillance video shows Taylor with a group of men. During the attack, police say the victim's friend tries to intervene and separate the men, but gets punched by one of Taylor's friends. In the video, police say Taylor kept hitting the victim until he fell to the ground and then he started stomping on the man's neck and face. Taylor's friend also reportedly stomped on the man.
The beating left the victim severely injured and needed emergency surgery that night for a perforation on his small intestine. He was later diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and had to be put on a feeding tube for three days following surgery. The victim remained in the hospital for seven days but needed further care after going back home -- including a second hospitalization on August 6 after developing an abscess in his abdomen.
Using surveillance video from a bar along with sidewalk cameras, police were able to track down a third friend of Taylor's. Officers were later able to identify Taylor and the other man suspected in the attack through Facebook.
In a police interview, Taylor's friend admitted he and Taylor were the men captured on surveillance video of the attack.
Taylor is now charged with first-degree assault in the incident. It's not clear what charges the other man involved in the attack may face.