Police Arrest Man Sought in Domestic Assault

A St. Paul man was arrested this week on a warrant charging him with assaulting two women in Burnsville in August 2010, leaving one with a missing tooth and requiring six stitches in her face.

Siro Lee Amerson, 35, is charged with third-degree assault, domestic assault and violation of a domestic abuse no-contact order, each a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

Amerson remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $50,000 bond. A settlement conference in his case is scheduled May 9 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

According to the complaint, Burnsville police responded to a 911 call on Aug. 9, 2010, in which someone said “something had happened” and there was “a lot of blood,” then hung up.

Police found a woman bleeding from a head injury. She told officers that Amerson had assaulted her and another woman, who had left, but warned that Amerson might still be inside the house.

Officers determined that Amerson wasn’t still on the premises, but reached him by phone. He refused to tell them where he was, according to the complaint.

Police found the second victim at the hospital. She told officers that Amerson had arrived earlier in the day, when she wasn’t home, and had taken their children without permission.

The woman said Amerson wasn’t allowed to have contact with the children because of a domestic abuse no-contact order issued after he was convicted of malicious punishment of a child in March 2010.

The woman said she brought her friend to the Burnsville home to help her retrieve the children, but she and Amerson began arguing when he refused to give them back. She said Amerson had previously been physically abusive toward her, and that he grabbed her by the shirt and hit her in the face.

When the woman’s friend tried to intervene, Amerson allegedly began to punch her in the face, leaving her with a swollen lip, multiple bruises and a missing molar. One of the cuts on her face required six stitches to close, according to medical records.

The domestic assault charge against Amerson is a felony because his criminal record includes a 2006 conviction for violating a protection order and the 2010 conviction for malicious punishment of a child.