After Hit-and-Run, Man Allegedly Spits Blood at Paramedics

A Brooklyn Park man has been charged with assaulting a police officer and drunken driving after an incident last week in Inver Grove Heights, in which police say he smashed his vehicle into a parked car, fled the scene and then fought with officers and medical personnel.

Gregory Jacob Raj, 24, faces two felony charges: Fourth-degree assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and a $3,000 fine, and third-degree DWI, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $3,000 fine.

He is also charged with two misdemeanors: Failure to stop after a property damage accident and fleeing a police officer, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, Inver Grove Heights police were called to 84th Street West and Atlas Avenue just before midnight June 24 when someone reported a fight in the street. While they were on their way to the area, they got reports of a hit-and-run accident at 84th Street and Bacardi Avenue and a vehicle rollover at Argenta Trail and Opperman Drive in Eagan.

A witness at the Eagan location told officers that the driver of the rolled car had run toward the YMCA. Officers spotted Raj running through the parking lot and caught him; his mouth was bleeding and he appeared “highly intoxicated” and verbally aggressive, according to the complaint.

While police waited for paramedics to arrive, Raj tried unsuccessfully to spit on officers, the complaint says. Once he was in an ambulance, he spit blood at a paramedic, hitting him in the face and on his uniform, and kept trying to spit blood at other paramedics, according to the complaint. Under Minnesota law, the intentional transfer of bodily fluids is considered assault.

A witness told police later that Raj had had an argument with his brother over money, and that he and Raj’s brother tried unsuccessfully to stop him from driving away drunk. The witness said they heard a nearby crash a short time later.

Witnesses at 84th Street and Bacardi told police that they heard tires squealing and a noise that sounded like two vehicles colliding. As they got closer, they said they saw that someone had hit a parked car, pushed it into another car and then drove away.

Authorities found Raj’s car in a ditch at Argenta and Opperman, and also found an empty vodka bottle inside the car, according to the complaint.

Raj is free on bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for July 25 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.