Charges: Suspect beat stranger with wooden table leg on train platform

A man is accused of beating a woman with a table leg until she went unconscious earlier this week.

Jerrod Rentist Johnson, 20, faces one count of attempted second-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault.

According to the criminal complaint, police responded to a report of a man hitting a woman with a table leg on the train platform at Fairview and University Avenues in St. Paul on Tuesday evening. There, they found a woman who was bleeding heavily from her head.

Investigators found a wooden table leg with apparent blood on it on a nearby platform walkway.

Witnesses told police that the assailant had gone west on University Avenue, and officers arrested Johnson. Court documents state he had blood on both of his hands at the time of his arrest.

Surveillance video showed Johnson following the victim and swinging the table leg “like a baseball bat,” hitting the victim’s head. Johnson was seen hitting her again, and the victim ran onto the platform ramp, where Johnson caught her and hit her 21 more times, knocking her unconscious. According to court documents, Johnson continued hitting her for 17 seconds after she lost consciousness.

A group of bystanders approached but did nothing to stop Johnson, allowing him to walk away. They later positively identified Johnson as the victim.

At the hospital, the victim said she didn’t know the man who attacked her. She added that Johnson seemed upset she was screaming while he attacked her as “it was ruining the situation for him” and that she saw “joy in Johnson’s eyes” during the attack, court documents state.

The victim has a fractured skull and several fractures in her right arm. Three separate injuries to the woman’s head needed to be closed with staples and she was diagnosed with a concussion.

Court documents note that Johnson is also facing charges for punching a woman outside Government Plaza on Sept. 14. The woman said she didn’t know Johnson.
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