Burnsville man, 23, charged with attacking 74-year-old woman on park trail

A Burnsville man is jailed and charged in a New Year’s Day morning attack on a 74-year-old woman on a park trail near Crystal Lake in the city.

Dashawn Jawaun Newton, 23, grabbed the woman from behind, put his gloved hand over her mouth and told her that he had a knife and not to scream, according to charges filed Wednesday in Dakota County District Court.

The woman fought Newton, who had thrown her to the ground and at one point kneeled on her, the criminal complaint said. Newton eventually fled after asking her about her husband.

“Victim believed the male was going to sexually assault her, because she did not have any other property on her person for him to take,” the complaint read.

Surveillance recordings at nearby apartment buildings helped lead police to Newton, who was arrested Monday. He went before a judge Wednesday on charges of false imprisonment, threats of violence and fifth-degree assault.

Newton’s attorney Marcus Almon declined to comment on the charges when reached by phone Wednesday.

Newton remains jailed on $100,000 bail, which was requested by Assistant Dakota County Attorney Cory Monnens. In a bail request court filing, Monnens said Newton is a suspect in three indecent exposure incidents that occurred in Burnsville between October and December.

Two interactions

Burnsville officers responded to a report of an assault about 8 a.m. Jan. 1.

According to the complaint, the woman said she was walking on a park trail, close to Crystal Lake, and a male, later identified as Newton, had approached her and asked her questions about the trail and walking on the nearby lake.

She said she became suspicious and told him that her husband was in the area. Newton then left and the victim continued walking.

About 10 minutes later, Newton returned, approached her from behind and put his hand over her mouth. After pushing her to the ground, she attempted to scratch his face and eyes. He asked the woman if her husband was wearing black clothing. She responded yes. Newton then got up and ran away.

She yelled for help, and a man who was running on the trail responded and found her “pale, disheveled and in shock,” the complaint read. She went home and called 911.

Police asked for public’s help

Burnsville police alerted the public of the attack on Jan. 1 and asked residents in the area to review home surveillance footage.

Investigators viewed surveillance recordings from nearby apartment buildings. Newton was identified on the video, matching the description given by the woman, the complaint said.

Officers obtained a search warrant for an apartment where Newton was thought to be staying. During the search, they found clothing consistent with what the victim described to investigators.

On Monday, officers were surveilling the apartment and saw Newton leave in a vehicle. He was stopped and arrested.

In an interview with investigators, Newton said he went to the park on Jan. 1 to get fresh air and that a woman began talking to him on the trail. He said he urinated in the snow, causing the the woman to yell at him.

Newton said the woman got closer to him and started threatening him by stating that her husband would beat him up. He stated that the woman came up on him and he pushed her, at which point she fell to the ground landing on her stomach.

Newton said the woman started screaming for her husband, and that he went back to his apartment.

Alleged prior incidents

According to the prosecutor’s bail request filing, Newton was previously seen masturbating outside of random strangers’ homes. In two cases, the act was caught on Ring video doorbell recordings, and in the third a person saw Newton outside of her sliding glass door.

“Defendant was questioned about these incidents as part of this investigation, and he admitted that he had been exposing his penis outside of people’s homes out of a desire to see people’s reactions to this conduct,” the court filing read. “The current offense seems to be an escalation of this conduct, and the State has significant public safety concerns.”