But man's ex-girlfriend had little sympathy. "I'm a victim of his brutality every day," she maintained.
A YouTube video of a St. Paul police officer macing and kicking a man during an arrest for stalking a Roseville woman has gone viral.
The video is making news across the country, prompting St. Paul Police to launch a brutality investigation and suspend an officer, Jesse Zilge. (Note: Video contains obscenities and violence.)
At the same time, Eric Hightower, 30 was charged Thursday with aggravated stalking, terroristic threats and fourth-degree criminal damage to property, according to the Pioneer Press, for harassing his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend.
Hightower's girlfriend told a WCCO-AM reporter, in an interview conducted near her Roseville home, that Highwater had violated a protection order she had obtained against him.
The Roseville woman gave birth to Hightower's child this summer, but the baby died days after birth, prompting Hightower to become "hostile and violent" to her, according to a criminal complaint.
The woman told WCCO-AM that she was the real victim in the situation and that Hightower had kicked her in a way similar to how he was kicked by police in the video.
"For those who think he's a victim of police brutality, I'm a victim of his brutality every day - every day he stalks me, every day he puts his hands on me, every day my son has to see him put his hands on me," she told WCCO-AM reporter Edgar Linares.
In a voicemail message the woman played for police, Hightower told her, "You're about to get your mother (expletive) head blew the (expletive) off!" according to a police complaint.
LAURA KNIGHT-JADCZYK AND JOE QUINN
Since the 9/11 attacks, no book has provided a satisfactory answer as to WHY the attacks occurred and who was ultimately responsible for carrying them out - until now.
I think there is no question that there was police brutality involved. Unless he was caught in the act of abusing the woman in front of the police and they had to stop him. And even than, you can't excuse kicking a guy when he's down. I also don't think the two matters of the Eric Hightower's psychotic actions towards his girlfriend and the police brutality have anything to do with each other. They are separate matters and should be treated as such.