Man Accused of Racially-Motivated Attack at Rochester Apartment

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- A Rochester man is facing a biased-motivated assault charge following an incident at an apartment complex. 

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The criminal complaint says Rochester Police officers were dispatched to a disorderly conduct call around 6:15 p.m. Sunday. Officers were told an intoxicated man was trying to fight people. 

The call came from an apartment complex in downtown Rochester. 

The victim, described as a man of Sudanese descent, told police he was visiting his brother’s apartment with a friend and was waiting to be let into the building when a man, described in the complaint as a white male, approached them and said they should not be there. 

The complaint says the man, later identified as 52-year-old Jan Patrick Squire, then started calling the victim a racial slur before punching the victim in his left temple. The punch resulted in a cut near the victim’s left eye and also bent his glasses. 

The victim then threw a punch back at Squire, who then retreated into a nearby apartment. Officers spoke with the victim and his brother, who corroborated the victim's account of the incident, the charges say. 

While the victim and his brother were speaking with police, Squire emerged from his apartment and told police he was the one who had punched the victim, the complaint says. 

He told the officer, who detected the odor of alcohol coming from Squire, that there were "a lot of bad people" at the apartment complex. Squire then tried to return to his apartment as officers attempted to detain him, the court document says. 

Squire at one point ripped his arm away from the officer’s grip and had to be taken to the ground and dragged away from the apartment’s entryway to be arrested, the complaint says. 

Squire was arraigned Tuesday in Olmsted County Court on a gross misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault motivated by bias, misdemeanor fifth-degree assault and a misdemeanor count of obstructing the legal process. 

He was released without bail and is due back in court next month.

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