Man charged with beating, sexually assaulting woman who was walking to St. Paul gas station

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
·3 min read
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A man is under arrest and charged with beating and sexually a woman in St. Paul Friday night.

A 47-year-old woman reported a man she didn’t know grabbed her in the Hamline-Midway area and dragged her to an alley.

A man in a nearby apartment heard screaming, went to investigate and found a man with a woman’s head under his arm “as if in a chokehold,” according to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday. The witness asked, “What the hell are you doing?,” and the suspect released the woman.

The witness told the woman to run to a nearby gas station for help, which is where police were called just before 11:30 p.m. Friday in the 700 block of North Snelling Avenue.

The suspect tried to catch the woman, but the witness chased him. Someone else at the gas station also saw the suspect before he ran off.

Police found a man hiding in a garage and arrested him. He was identified as Korzell Javon Johnson, 21, of St. Paul.

The woman was taken to a hospital. She sustained a fractured nose and her eyes were swollen shut.

Later, the woman told police she had been walking to the gas station on Snelling Avenue, waiting to cross the street, when she heard a noise behind her. She said she turned and saw a man walking fast toward her.

She said he grabbed her and punched her in the face, head and eyes several times. She said he grabbed her hair and pulled her behind a building, where he kept hitting and punching her. She said the man told her, “You’re gonna die today” and “I’m gonna have to kill her,” according to the complaint. She said she was going in and out of consciousness while he forced her to perform a sex act on him.

After the suspect fled, police were told he was last seen running through yards in the 1400 block of Englewood Avenue.

Officers heard loud crashing sounds coming from a detached garage and, with the homeowner’s permission, opened the garage door. They found Johnson hiding under a shelf.

In an interview with police, Johnson said he did not assault anyone and said it was his brother who beat his ex‐girlfriend, according to the complaint. He said his brother was wearing a black T‐shirt and white jeans, which did not match the clothing description that witnesses gave police.

Video footage from the Snelling Avenue gas station showed Johnson arriving at the store about 11:30 p.m. on Friday and people confronting him before he ran from the area, according to the complaint.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Johnson with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree assault causing substantial bodily harm. He had a first court appearance on the charges Wednesday and remained jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Most sexual assaults are committed by someone known to a victim; about 20 percent are perpetrated by a stranger, according to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network).

Minnesota court records show Johnson has a misdemeanor conviction for trespassing in 2020. An attorney for Johnson could not be reached Wednesday.

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