Burnsville Man Charged with Breaking Woman's Nose

A Burnsville man has been charged with assault after police say he allegedly broke a woman’s nose and strangled her last weekend.

Patrick Joseph Spears, 26, is charged with two felonies: third-degree assault, substantial bodily harm, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and domestic assault by strangulation, which has a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. 

Spears remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $50,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled April 24 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

According to the criminal complaint, Burnsville police were called to an apartment building in the 1400 block of 143rd Street West just after 9:30 p.m. March 25 on a report of an intoxicated man with a knife. 

Police found the female victim in the hall of the building. She had a cut under her left eye, blood running down her cheek, an apparently broken nose and bloodstains on her shorts, the complaint says.

The victim told police that Spears had been out for the evening drinking, then returned home. When she asked him how much he had to drink, he became angry and began hitting her in the face and head, at least twice with a closed fist on her face, according to the complaint.

Spears then pushed the victim to the floor and began strangling her so that she was unable to breathe, she told police, then began kicking her in the back and on her legs.

When Spears saw what he had done to the victim, he left the room and came back with a knife, which he held to his own stomach, according to the complaint. The victim said she told Spears she was going to get a drink of water, and she called police.

Doctors determined that the victim’s nose was broken.