A 12-year Superior police officer has been charged with second-degree assault for allegedly pulling a gun and pointing it at a motorist in the parking lot of a Two Harbors service station in an apparent road rage incident on Sunday.

Ross W. Magnuson, 45, of Knife River also was charged Friday with making terroristic threats, recklessly handling a dangerous weapon and disorderly conduct. The first two crimes are felonies. The other two are misdemeanors.

According to the criminal complaint:



Ross Magnuson
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Motorist P.H. told Two Harbors Police Officer Nathan Gens that he and his girlfriend and her son were driving to Gooseberry Falls on Sunday afternoon on Highway 61 when they passed a vehicle with a man driving. P.H. said that the driver “flipped him off’’ as they passed.

P.H. said they drove to a Holiday station in Two Harbors and were waiting for their turn at the gas pumps. He said that the vehicle they had passed pulled in next to his. The driver got out and stuck his head in P.H.’s open moon roof and began yelling at him.

P.H. said he told the driver to step back and that he was going to close the window. The other driver came around the front of the car. P.H. said he got out of his car and approached the driver, who then pulled a gun and pointed it at him.

P.H. said he was scared and he attempted to calm the other driver down and apologized for making him mad. He provided a license plate number that eventually led police to Magnuson.

In a follow-up interview, P.H. told the Two Harbors police officer that Magnuson had been intimidating and alarming and used a hostile tone. He said his body language, his red complexion and the words he used were inappropriate and unacceptable with or without a child present.

P.H. said that Magnuson, who was off duty and not wearing a police uniform, drew the weapon from a holster on his right hip and pointed it at his chest. He said Magnuson gritted his teeth and moved in his direction with his gun drawn, saying something like, “Do you want to go?’’

He said he asked Magnuson to put the gun away and calm down. He said he placed a “friendly warning hand on Magnuson’s chest and assured him that whatever set him off was unintentional, hoping that he would just leave.” He said Magnuson holstered his firearm, which appeared to be silver with black trim or dual tone with black and silver, but continued to argue.

P.H. was able to pick Magnuson’s photo from a lineup of six men.

Police executed a search warrant at Magnuson’s home on Friday. Magnuson opened his gun safe and provided a silver and black Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol.

Magnuson told officers that he had been driving on Highway 61 that day when he was approached by a car driving erratically. He admitted stopping at the Two Harbors Holiday station where the car was parked. He said he approached the car and spoke with the driver about his driving conduct. He said the other driver got out of his car and approached him. Magnuson said he felt threatened and “broke leather’’ on his firearm.

Superior Police Chief Floyd Peters said it was fair to say that he was shocked by the allegations when notified of the charges Friday afternoon. “He’s been a very well respected officer in our department and in the community,’’ Peters said.

The chief then read from a prepared statement. “It is the position of the Superior Police Department that it would be inappropriate to comment on or in any way interfere with this investigation at this time,’’ he said. “The Superior Police Department will conduct its own internal investigation into this matter only after the criminal investigation is complete. Officer Magnuson will be placed on administrative leave pending these investigations.’’

Magnuson appeared in court Friday afternoon in handcuffs. He told the court that he is married and has two children, 9 and 12 years old.

Because of a scheduling conflict, Magnuson was arraigned in St. Louis County District Court in Duluth instead of in Lake County District Court in Two Harbors where the crime is alleged to have occurred.

Retired Judge John T. Oswald, who occasionally fills in for other judges in the 6th Judicial District, set bail at $4,000 and referred the defendant to a probation officer to be considered for supervised release. Neither the Lake County Jail nor Two Harbors police would say if Magnuson was being held in the Lake County Jail after the arraignment.

A phone message left at Magnuson’s home Friday evening was not immediately returned


http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articl ... c6423e1d1e

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I think Chunkstyle is trying to comment on the very different slant of the story if you or I were in the officer's shoes.

His story sounds contrived!

Whitewash, my boy, whitewash.

Where in the Police handbook does it say, "never admit fault, never admit to making a wrong decision, always put a positive spin on an officer's f*ck ups."?

The cop is in handcuffs, and yet the worst they can say is "he has been put on administrative leave."

Well no shit sherlock, its tough to pull your weapon on passing motorists when you are in handcuffs. So I guess he's out of work currently...

Search warrant is hard to refuse

anybody know if the Two Harbors Holiday has video cameras on the pump area? could be some interesting viewing!!!

I have a friend in Superior (not LEO) who knows this officer personally and told me he is really a mild mannered guy. He said it will be interesting to see what the truth is because the RP's story really seems coached, as in coached by an attorney.

I am a bit skeptical of the story since most of it seems to paint the officer in a negative light and treats P.H. as an innocent victim - I don't think that's the whole truth. It seems people like to jump on LEOs when stories like this come out, especially in light of the Treptow case, but maybe we should wait before we pass judgment?

I looked up the RP, P.H., on the WI CCAP site (http://wcca.wicourts.gov/simpleCaseSearch) and he has a small record in Douglas county, including a disorderly in '99, and three speeding tickets in '03 (30-34 over), '06 (11-15 over), and '07 (1-10 over). I wonder how fast he was really going...

Not that speeding would justify having a gun drawn on him, and yeah the officer should not have stopped and confronted him (if this is really the case), but there may be an entirely different (truth) side to the story, i.e. how was he really driving, who advanced on whom, etc..

I had a similar thought about cameras at the Holiday station - it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Chris

It's interesting that both sides are telling essentially the same story.

The difference is on whether the motorist threatened the officer or made any moves that would have justified him feeling threatened.

Basically the "reasonable person" part of the rule is very much undetermined at the moment.

Color me (pleasantly) surprised: whitewash does <I>not</i> appear to be being applied here:

http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/27496509.html

Update:

If the cop had to "break leather", he should have been on the phone to 911 immediately. The fact that he didn't report it is suspect.

It's suspect in that either he did it and did not report it because he thought he was in the wrong, or that he didn't do it at all.