A 28-year-old Paynesville man made his first court appearance Tuesday on a felony charge of assault for allegedly attempting to run over several people with a vehicle Sunday morning.
Robert Stanley Jones faces a second-degree assault charge, plus five misdemeanor charges for fifth-degree assault, driving while impaired and driving without a license. Unconditional bail was set at $20,000 and conditional bail for $400 cash only. His next appearance is Sept. 21.
According to the complaint, two Kandiyohi County Sheriff's deputies were called around 1 a.m. Sunday to a home in rural Belgrade. A man there reported that Jones had been there at a party, had been drinking and started calling a woman names.
The man said he asked Jones to leave when Jones assaulted him, got into a vehicle and chased him and several other people around the place at a high rate of speed. The man said Jones came back later and ran over fence posts and a horse watering tank and left again. Other witnesses confirmed the man's story.
One of the deputies went to a rural Hawick address where Jones was located. A breath test showed his blood-alcohol level at 0.22. He was arrested and taken to the Law Enforcement Center, where a breath test showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.16. When interviewed, Jones said the other man hit him first, that the other people attacked him and that the drove away because he feared for his life.
