Charges: Man's Tongue Nearly Severed In Metro Transit Assault
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 31-year-old St. Paul man is accused of nearly severing a man's tongue in a Metro Transit bus attack in late November, according to charges filed in Ramsey County.
On Nov. 30, 2013, Metro Transit police officers were dispatched to the reported assault on a bus, which was stopped at University and Hamline avenues in St. Paul.
Officers learned that a man, later identified as Jeremiah Tyrunn Hudson, had kicked a male passenger in the face and was last seen heading across the street from the incident location.
After obtaining camera footage from the bus, the investigator observed Hudson boarding the bus with another woman and a child. The woman asked if anyone had change for a dollar, while Hudson used a card to pay electronically on the bus' card reader.
That's when another man began to make change for the woman. When he approached the woman, who was sitting with Hudson and a child in the front of the bus, Hudson told the man that they did not need change and said "bye, bye, bye" and waved him off. The man stood in the aisle and looked at them.
According to the complaint, Hudson then got up and began to taunt and threaten the other man without any apparent provocation, saying "smile again bro … get the f--- out of my f---ing face man." So, the other man returned to his seat. Hudson continued ranting at the man, who shook his head in disbelief.
Hudson then allegedly walked over to the seated man, told him not to look at him or the woman and then kicked him in his jaw, causing his head to violently snap backwards into the window of the bus.
The victim suffered a significant injury to his tongue, which was nearly severed in half.
Hudson then fled out of the emergency exit. He was later arrested on Jan. 10, 2014.
Hudson now faces one felony count of third-degree assault. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.