MINNEAPOLIS – State Representative John Thomson has a police record of domestic abuse between 2003 and 2009. The record includes allegations that he punched and choked women, sometimes in the presence of children. This according to a report on Minneapolis television station KSMP. The report raised more questions about behavior that has led to calls for Thompson, D-St. Paul, to give up his seat in the Minnesota House.
In summary KSMP’s report:
Thompson. Police record goes back to Superior, Eagan, Minneapolis.
> October 2003. Thompson was arrested in Superior, Wisconsin, on an allegation hat he struck his girlfriend in the face with an open and closed fist in a supermarket parking lot. The woman’s 5-year-old daughter witnessed the assault, police said. Police said Thompson fled. When he was found a short time later, he resisted arrest, police said. The girlfriend, who was homeless, declined to cooperate in the case. Thompson eventually pled guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
> August 2004. In the south Twin Cities suburb of Eagan, the same girlfriend called 911 from her apartment. Police said she recounted an argument at the apartment pool the day before. She alleged that Thompson belittled her daughter and called her a series of expletives, that culminated with, “Fuck you. Fuck your daughter. I hope you both die.” The next day police received the 911 call with a hang-up. When police arrived, the girlfriend said that there had been an argument and that Thompson broke the phone cord and put both hands around her neck and began choking her. During the struggle Thompson allegedly said, “I’ll choke you until you can’t breathe anymore.” She said he hit her in the head, punched her in the face, grabbed her, and threw her into the kitchen table, which broke. The girlfriend said she ran out screaming, but Thompson grabbed her and dragged her back to the apartment. She said three children — her daughter and Thompson’s two sons — witnessed most of the assault. The legal paper trail following the incident included a referral to Dakota County child protection services.
> September 2009. St. Paul Police responded to a call of domestic violence involving Thompson and two women. Thompson and the women were fighting about a cellphone he received from another girlfriend. The KMSP report said it was unclear if the girlfriend was the same as in the previous cases. According to the police report, as the yelling escalated Thompson pulled out his penis in front of his girlfriend and two young children and said, “I’m the man, you can all suck my dick.” Thompson denied having exposed himself. The Ramsey County Attorney declined to file charges.
> March 2010. St. Paul Police responded to another domestic assault involving a different woman. The victim said she had been with Thompson for 11 years and they have two children together. During an argument, Thompson allegedly pulled his penis from his pants and told her to “kiss the tip,” in front of relatives and children. Later, the woman told police, Thompson grabbed her around the neck with both hands and told her, “I’ll choke you until your voice box stops.” The county attorney declined to charge the case “due to several issues, delayed 911 call, poor witness info, victim stated she was fired up, and doesn’t remember who attacked who first.”
> More recently. Thompson is on trial in Minneapolis for a disorderly conduct case that stemmed from a visit to North Memorial Hospital. At the hospital Thompson and others were asked to leave.