Police arrest perennial Sioux Falls mayoral candidate David Zokaites on assault charges

A Sioux Falls man who has recently run for both mayor and city council, has been charged with aggravated assault after police say he tried to strangle a woman Monday.

Court documents say David Zokaites, 62, "did attempt to induce a fear of death or imminent serious bodily harm by impeding the normal breathing or circulation of the blood" of a woman.

He was also charged with interference of emergency communication, with documents saying he attempted to stop the woman from calling for help.

At Zokaites' initial appearance hearing Tuesday, Minnehaha County prosecutor Kathleen Fulton said the allegations against Zokaites were that an argument between him and the woman became physical, and that he placed an exercise ball over her mouth and nose and put his body weight on it, preventing her from breathing for 30 seconds.

Victoria Reker, with the Minnehaha County Public Advocate's Office, said Zokaites denied the allegations. Reker had asked the woman to leave his home after coming over while she was intoxicated, which had become a "pattern of behavior" that he had called police about before.

Zokaites entered a not guilty plea to the allegations, and was released on a personal recognizance bond with a no contact order for the victim.

Zokaites regularly appears at the city's Sioux Falls City Council meetings, where he often accuses local government of corruption and a lack of transparency.

Many of those complaints have often involved alleged harassment by police, though since a 1999 reckless driving charge he's only received two traffic tickets, according to court documents.

He's made two unsuccessful runs for mayor in 2018 and 2022, and most recently lost the race for the city's Northeast council seat this month.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: David Zokaites pleads not guilty to aggravated assault charges