BENSON -- The 35-year-old Kerkhoven woman charged with assaulting a Swift County sheriff's deputy has pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge for obstructing the legal process by interfering with a peace officer.
The plea was entered Tuesday by Pamela Theresa Jimenez in Swift County District Court. Three other charges, including a felony for assault on a peace officer and misdemeanor charges of fleeing an officer and driving after revocation were dismissed by Judge David L. Mennis. Jimenez will be sentenced July 2.
The charges were filed after a March 18 incident in Kerkhoven. According to Sheriff Scott Mattison, Larry Hindberg, a veteran officer with 27 years of service, was responding to a dog complaint when he saw a person drive by whose driver's license he knew to be revoked. He stopped the vehicle along the 400 block of Third Street North and confirmed the driver's license was revoked.
The driver, Jimenez, began yelling and screaming at the deputy. When Hindberg attempted to issue the citation and retrieve her car keys, she began physically resisting and assaulting him. A 15-year-old female came along and physically interfered with the arrest, including assaulting the deputy by biting his hand. As Hindberg attempted to arrest both females, two young children began throwing snowballs at him and one of the children took the deputy's handcuffs away.
The woman fled into a nearby home and the deputy attempted to apprehend her and keep others from interfering with the arrest. Then, a 17-year-old male also began to interfere.
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Hindberg radioed for assistance and two neighbors also called the Sheriff's Office. Officers from the Benson and Willmar police departments, the Kandiyohi and Swift County sheriff's offices and the Department of Natural Resources responded.
The 15-year-old was charged, as a juvenile, with felony assault of a peace officer, plus a gross misdemeanor and a misdemeanor for obstructing the legal process. The 17-year-old was charged, as a juvenile, with misdemeanors for obstructing the legal process and disorderly conduct. Neither of those court matters are public record.
According to the sheriff, the facial injury that appears in Jimenez' booking photo did not occur as a result of the March 18 incident, but rather occurred earlier and did not involve law enforcement.
