Charges: Man shot at driver who hit dog, then beat him with the animal’s tail

A man is accused of shooting at a driver who hit a dog in Sibley County, then beating the young man with the animal’s tail.

James Michael Thomson, 30, was charged last week in Sibley County Court with four counts of felony 2nd-degree assault and four counts of felony false imprisonment.  He also faces a felony 1st-degree damage to property charge and multiple misdemeanor charges.

According to a criminal complaint, a 21-year-old young man was driving on a Sibley County highway with three passengers looking for wild turkeys when he hit a dog that jumped out in the road.  The driver saw the dog was still alive but had lost its tail, so he and his 26-year-old passenger went to knock on the Thomson’s door.

The complaint says Thomson was using profanity as he emerged from the home with a handgun.  Thompson pointed the gun slantwise and shot a round of ammunition off to the side of the driver and the other man, according to the charging document.  Afraid, the victim and his passenger walked back to the truck but saw Thomson walking towards the vehicle and thought he wanted to talk.  Instead, Thomson grabbed the dog’s tail from the roadway and began beating the driver with the tail, according to court documents.

The complaint says the driver dropped his phone during the tail assault, and Thomson stomped on the phone a couple of times before shooting it with his handgun.  Thompson then took the phone and threw it into a muddy field, according to the complaint.

The driver was able to get away and drove less than a mile down the road to Shady Lane Sportsman’s Park, where the victims were advised by Sibley County dispatch to wait for a deputy. But the complaint says Thomson followed them to the park and blocked them in with his vehicle.

Thomson then allegedly began trying to open the truck door and began scratching and pounding the on the windows while calling the four occupants “bitches,” “bastards,” and the n-word.  One of the passengers, a 16-year-old boy, was on the phone with his mother, who later told police she could hear Thomson yelling racial slurs and she could tell the boys were “scared s**tless.”

Thomson left the park when the victims told him they had called the cops.  The victims later met with their parents and law enforcement.  The driver’s phone – worth more than $1,300 – wasn’t found, but police say footprints were discovered in the field where the victim said it had been thrown.

Thomson has been summoned to appear in Sibley County Court.

 

 

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