MINNESOTA: A St. Paul man is charged with a gross misdemeanor after he allegedly ripped a shirt off his four-year-old son and hit the boy for wearing a rival gang's color.
Kenny T. Jackson, 30, was charged with malicious punishment of a child in Ramsey County District Court, according to a criminal complaint dated Wednesday.
St. Paul police arrested Jackson on Tuesday afternoon after they responded to a 911 call from a home in the 500 block of Sherburne Avenue, the complaint said.
The unnamed caller, who said he was Jackson's stepfather, reported that Jackson was on drugs and "destroying the house." The stepfather said he was hiding in a bedroom because Jackson was yelling and throwing things, and he was afraid.
The caller said Jackson was angry because he is reportedly a Bloods gang member, and his son had been wearing a blue shirt, the color of a rival gang.
Jackson was breaking things in the house when police arrived, the complaint said. He fled on foot and tried to hide in the trunk of a car but was apprehended.
Police found the boy shirtless, scratched and crying. A 5-year-old in the house said Jackson had "whooped" the boy and two other children. Another child said the man was angry because the kids were wearing blue clothes, and that they couldn't eat because they were scared.
When questioned, Jackson denied the allegations and asked for an attorney, the complaint said.
On Thursday, a judge ordered Jackson not to contact the 4-year-old, according to Paul Gustafson, a spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney's office.
Court records indicate that Jackson was ordered last month to serve time in the county workhouse for a probation violation stemming from a 2003 drug conviction, Gustafson said.
Jackson has a court hearing scheduled for Sept. 10.
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