WILLMAR -- A 29-year-old Willmar man made his first court appearance Monday on a second-degree assault charge for allegedly hitting another man in the head with a metal baseball bat early Saturday morning in Regency Estates West.
Unconditional bail was set at $50,000 for Jaime Turrubiates. Conditional bail was set at $10,000.
He was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim or his home and possess no weapons, guns or baseball bats.
Turrubiates' next appearance in Kandiyohi County District Court is Sept. 8.
According to the complaint, Willmar police officers were called to the mobile home park around 1:50 a.m. Saturday regarding a fight involving a large group of men and women. Two men were fighting, wrestling and punching each other, and officers attempted to stop the fight by spraying mace. During their attempts, Turrubiates came into the fight with a bat, swung and hit one of the men in the head, causing a wound that required 13 stitches to close.
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Turrubiates was taken into custody only after an officer threatened to shoot him if he did not stop running away. In an interview, Turrubiates said he was drinking with others and that people came looking for his girlfriend and sister-in-law, who were involved in a fight earlier that evening at the Double D Club. He said that one of the men fought with his brother and that he did hit the man in the head with the bat.
The officers went to the Rice Memorial Hospital emergency room, where the injured man and a woman confirmed there was a fight at the club, that a woman had pulled her hair and a group of women fought until club security broke up the fight.
The woman said she and others went to Regency West after the fight and that someone in a car that drove by their home said they had a gun.
The woman said she threw a rock at the car and that's when the fight between the men started.
