Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)  - A homeless man has been charged with attacking another man with a metal pole at a Rochester park earlier this week.

A criminal complaint was filed Friday in Olmsted County Court against 41-year-old Dustin Bennett Sandlin.

According to the court document, Rochester police responded to a report of an assault around 10 a.m. on Wednesday at Soldiers Field Park. The responding officers reported finding the victim suffering from apparent injuries to his mouth and visibly distressed.

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The man told officers that he had been attacked by Sandlin, who was armed with a 4- to 5-foot-long metal pole. The criminal complaint says the officers noted that the victim was spitting blood and his teeth were "crooked and bloodied, appearing substantially disfigured."

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The charges state that the assault was witnessed by multiple people. One woman told police she came out of a restroom at the park and saw Sandlin swing a metal pole at the victim’s face and then at her. She indicated Sandlin threw the pole down after the assault, and she picked it up in an effort to keep him away, but he took it from her before fleeing across the pedestrian bridge toward South Broadway on foot.

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Another witness told police that he saw Sandlin approach the victim from behind and strike him on the head with the metal pole. The witness then saw the victim fall and strike his head on a picnic table before the woman attempted to intervene and Sandlin ran away. The court document says investigating officers later located the metal pole at the base of a tree on the west side of the pedestrian bridge.

photo by Andy Brownell
photo by Andy Brownell
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Police later located Sandlin and took him into custody on an extraditable warrant issued by authorities in Texas. The criminal complaint says Sandlin spoke with the arresting officer and claimed the victim had stolen money from him. He admitted confronting the victim at the park but stated he did not assault him.

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Sandlin is charged with felony counts of second- and third-degree assault, along with misdemeanor charges of giving a police officer a false name and disorderly conduct. His bail has been set at $100,000.

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