Charges: Chisel attack in West St. Paul laundromat shattered victim's skull

WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. - Prosecutors have charged a 54-year-old St. Paul man with assault after he allegedly attacked a laundromat worker, leaving him with a shattered skull and traumatic brain injury.

Worker attacked at laundromat

The backstory:

According to police, officers responded on Sept. 18 to a reported assault at a West St. Paul laundromat and found a man bleeding heavily from his face, head and mouth. First responders took him to a hospital for treatment.

After emergency care, the worker told police he was cleaning the laundromat when a man, later identified as Jackson, accused him of knocking over his child. 

He said he went back to cleaning lint trays before Jackson allegedly started hitting him with a metal object that witnesses described as a crowbar.

Dig deeper:

Police said surveillance video shows Jackson's child falling out of a metal laundry basket and landing on her head. According to officers, the worker did not cause the child to fall.

Jackson then allegedly confronted him and walked out of the business.

According to the criminal complaint, surveillance video then shows Jackson come back inside with a metal object, approach the worker from behind, hit him numerous times and chase him outside. Two witnesses told officers Jackson was using what appeared to be a crowbar and said it looked like he was trying to kill the worker.

Police later went to Jackson's home and tried to contact him, but Jackson refused to come out of the apartment, according to police. 

After obtaining a search warrant, officers seized Jackson's vehicle.

Inside the vehicle, police found a foot-long solid metal chisel with what looked like blood on it. 

Analysis by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension later determined the blood belonged to the worker.

What's next:

An investigator obtained the worker's medical records on Nov. 12, according to the criminal complaint. The records say he suffered a shattered skull, major sinus damage and a traumatic brain injury.

The worker told a detective he would not be able to work for three months while recovering from his injuries.

The Source: This story was written using a Dakota County criminal complaint. It was reported from Eden Prairie, Minnesota.