Charges: St. Peter man punched woman holding baby, threatened to kill child

A St. Peter man is facing multiple charges after he allegedly punched a woman holding a baby and threatened to kill another child.

Zachary Brian Zimbrich, 25, was charged Monday with felony threats of violence.  He also faces a number of misdemeanor charges, including child endangerment, harassment, domestic assault, and 5th-degree assault.

According to a criminal complaint, police responded to a domestic call, where a woman told officers Zimbrich had punched in the side of her head three or four times while she held a ten-month-old baby.  Zimbrich is also accused of striking the woman in her back.

The victim called police and took the baby and a six-year-old child into a bedroom and barricaded it with a dresser, according to the complaint. She told police Zimbrich tried to pick the lock, then screamed that he was going to kill the 6-year-old girl.

Court documents say Zimbrich then went into the 6-year-old’s room and screamed at her to get out bed, becoming angrier when he realized she wasn’t there.

Zimbrich eventually broke through the door where the victim was barricaded and began hitting her again, according to the complaint.  He allegedly called both the victim and the girl a “bitch” and a “c**t.”  The victim told police the child was screaming as Zimbrich struck her.

The child told officers she was scared and she was worried Zimbrich had broken things in the baby’s bedroom.  She recalled yelling as Zimbrich hit the victim.  The girl told police she was hit in the eye, likely when Zimrich pushed the woman who then bumped into her.

Zimbrich had been drinking the night of the alleged abuse, according to the complaint.