AUSTIN, Minn. – A Swat team charged a house with a canine and arrested a man hiding in the basement of a womanfriend’s apartment. The K-9 located Clifton Robinson, 40, in a locked closet. Robinson was holding a knife, police said. He was taken to a hospital and eventually to jail. Robinsin had been pursued for a stabbing about 2 a.m. a few blocks away. When arrested, according to police, Robinson explained the stabbing as self-defense. He said he grabbed a knife while defending himself from being attacked by four men. Why hadn’t he reported being attacked to police? His reponse, police said, was that he had previous negative iteractions with police.
A scary night in Austin
Police were called 1:50 a.m. to a residence in the 200 block of First Street Southeast. They found a man sitting outside in blood-soaked clothing from stab wounds. A few blocks away a deputy observed a car leaving the area. When the deputy activated her emergency lights, a man in a red shirt and jeans opened a backseat door and ran away. The driver confirmed that it was Robinson who fled and that he had called for a ride to his womanffiend’s place. A second deputy arrived and reported that there was blood on the side of the vehicle and a handgun and knife on the backseat floorboard. The driver said Robinson acted nervous when she picked him up and told her not to stop when the deputy activated her flasing lights. As she was stoping, the driver said, Robinson started fumbling around and took off running. At Robinson’ place, police looked through a window and saw blood on the stairway that led to his apartment. An officer saw a shoe in the entryway and recalled that the victim was wearing only one shoe. Police found blood in every room. A bloody broken knife was in the kitchen sink. The sink too was bloody. An officer went down the apartment steps and located another part of the broken knife near the shoe. Police left for the womanfriend’s place and observed blood on a car in the driveway. A tenant said that Robinson was in the basement. Officers ordered Robinson to come out. There was no response. A police canine was sent into the basement. The arrest followed.