A man seen on video being kicked by a St. Paul police officer last month was arrested Monday, Sept. 24, after he reportedly jumped out a window when police responded to a report of a fight.
Eric Hightower, 30, injured his leg and was listed in fair condition at Regions Hospital on Monday morning.
Police were called to the Highway Motel, 2152 W. Seventh St., at 1:48 a.m. Monday about a fight in a motel room, according to a police report. Police could hear a woman yell “Stop.” They knocked on the door and saw a man jump out a second-story window in the back of the room, the report said.
“(I)t appeared the male jumped out the window due to a(n) active Order for Protection,” said the report.
Hightower, of St. Paul, was arrested on suspicion of violating an order for protection and domestic assault, according to the Ramsey County Jail. He has not been charged.
The woman who held the protection order also was the victim in the case in which Hightower was arrested Aug. 28, which garnered attention because a videotape of the arrest shows a police officer kicking him. The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Hightower with aggravated stalking, terroristic threats and criminal damage to property in that case. He had allegedly threatened to kill his former girlfriend.
Reached Monday, the woman denied she’d been with Hightower and declined further comment. Hightower’s attorney, Seamus Mahoney, didn’t return calls.
The woman who is 20, applied for an order for protection on Aug. 30, the day Hightower was charged. She wrote that he’d pulled her hair out Aug. 9, harassed and broke windows at her place on Aug. 24 and had stalked her and left threatening voicemails Aug. 25-28. A judge granted a two-year order for protection Aug. 30.
On Sept. 4, the woman filed a motion to dismiss the order for protection, writing, “Because I feel safe and because I feel my child is safe and I would like to be around the Respondent by choice.” At a hearing Monday, the order for protection was dismissed.
When Hightower was in court on Friday, Sept. 21, pleading not guilty in the stalking case, the woman was there. She wanted to ask the judge to lift the no-contact order against Hightower, but the judge told Mahoney he doesn’t speak with complainants in open court.
St. Paul Police Federation President Dave Titus noted in a statement Monday that it was the third time in four months Hightower had been arrested.
“Clearly this is an individual with no regard for the safety of himself, his victims, other citizens or St. Paul police officers,” Titus said. Hightower’s “complete disregard for authority and dangerous behavior is well known to many” officers, including Jesse Zilge, who arrested Hightower Aug. 28, Titus said.
A friend of Hightower’s videotaped that arrest near Lewis Park in St. Paul’s North End, and another friend posted it to YouTubethe next day.
Zilge is seen on video kicking Hightower as he lay on the ground. The video also shows Zilge and another officer slamming Hightower’s head into the hood of a squad car.
Chief Thomas Smith put Zilge and officer Matthew Gorans, whose role in the arrest has not been explained, on paid administrative leave and launched an internal affairs investigation. The two officers returned to work effective Sept. 13, but not to patrol assignments. The internal investigation continues, and the FBI has said it also is investigating.
Hightower was to report to jail Monday to serve his sentence in another case. He got 45 days for an August 2011 confrontation and pleaded guilty to third-degree assault.
Emily Gurnon contributed to this report.
