Burnsville Man Charged with Assaulting Woman in Front of Children

A Burnsville man has been charged with domestic assault by strangulation after police say he assaulted a woman last weekend in front of her children.

Gabino Garcia Hernandez, 26, who lives in the 12500 block of Portland Avenue, faces a felony charge of domestic assault by strangulation, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

He faces lesser charges of interfering with an emergency call, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $3,000 fine, and a misdemeanor charge of domestic assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, police were called to Hernandez’s apartment on the evening of July 3. When they arrived, a child told them that her father was going to kill her mother, and that they were in the elevator, the complaint says.

Officers met with the victim, who told them that she and Hernandez, along with their children, had been at a rodeo that night. She said she saw him drinking and asked him to stop, because he had to drive the family home.

Hernandez refused to stop drinking and drove home. When they arrived, according to the complaint, Hernandez began yelling at the victim, calling her the “worst wife ever,” and pushed her. When she tried to call 911, Hernandez grabbed her phone and smashed it against the building’s elevator door, the complaint says, and told her that he wasn’t going to jail.

The complaint says Hernandez punched the victim in her head and chest, grabbed her arms and twisted them, then grabbed her in a headlock. He dragged her down the hall in the headlock and into the apartment, where he kicked her in the leg, causing her to fall to the ground, according to the complaint.

The victim’s hand was injured so extensively that doctors thought it might be broken, the complaint says.

While the victim was on the ground, Hernandez continued to kick her, the complaint says. When the victim told one of the children to call 911, Hernandez pushed the child against the wall and left the building, according to the complaint.

Police returned to the building on July 5 and arrested Hernandez.

An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Oct. 17 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.