Eyota Man Shot at by Deputy Charged for Escaping Rochester Arrest

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office has filed charges against a Eyota man in connection to his escape from an arrest attempt in southeast Rochester late last year. 

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39-year-old Jesse Johnson was captured in Iowa in February after he sped away from authorities who attempted to apprehend him on an active felony assault warrant in the Planet Fitness parking lot last December. The charges say Johnson rammed a squad car and was shot at by a deputy as he fled the arrest attempt. 

Prosecutors filed felony charges Thursday of second-degree assault, first-degree property damage and fleeing. The criminal complaint says law enforcement squad cars had boxed in the vehicle Johnson was driving into a parking spot when Johnson reversed out of the parking spot and rammed a squad car. 

Johnson then put the vehicle in drive and fled the parking lot at a high rate of speed and escaped deputies. Court documents say a second Olmsted County Sheriff's Office squad car was damaged in the ramming. The cost to repair the vehicles was estimated at $5,538.95. 

The charges also describe Johnson’s apprehension in Iowa. An Iowa state trooper was aware of Johnson being in the Worth County area on February 10. The trooper spotted the vehicle Johnson had fled in and attempted to stop the vehicle. 

Johnson did not pull over and drove off at a speed of 100 mph, court documents say. The Trooper’s squad car caught up to the vehicle Johnson was driving and performed a pit maneuver to stop the vehicle. 

Johnson was then apprehended and returned to Olmsted County. He was formally arraigned on the charges listed in the arrest warrant last month that stem from an incident in which he is accused of brandishing a pistol during an argument with another man last June. 

The victim in that case told police that Johnson attempted to shoot him, but the gun jammed. Johnson then struck him in the face with the handgun, knocking him unconscious, according to the criminal complaint. 

Johnson, who remains in custody on $1 million bail set in the assault case, is set to make his first court appearance for the fleeing charges on April 27.