The St. Paul man who was kicked by a police officer as he lay on a sidewalk last month has pleaded not guilty to aggravated stalking, terroristic threats and criminal damage to property.
Eric Hightower, 30, appeared in Ramsey County District Court on Friday, Sept. 21. Judge Salvador Rosas found that there was probable cause to continue the case for trial, and a not-guilty plea was entered on Hightower's behalf. Hightower did not speak during the two-minute hearing.
Hightower's attorney, Seamus Mahoney, told the judge that Hightower's ex-girlfriend was in the courtroom and wanted to make a statement.
"I don't talk to alleged victims, Mr. Mahoney, in open court," Rosas said.
Outside the courtroom, the woman, Kara Drew, said that she wanted to ask the judge to lift the no-contact order prohibiting Hightower from seeing or calling her.
"I wasn't ever worried that he would cause harm to me," she said. "It's just that I was worried that he would cause damage to the house."
Hightower was arrested Aug. 28 near Lewis Park in the city's North End after he "repeatedly called, harassed and threatened" Drew over the previous few days, according to a criminal complaint filed Aug. 30. She had reported to police that he called her on Aug. 24 and said he was at her St. Paul home breaking all the windows, the complaint said.
But it was the arrest itself -- which was recorded and then posted on YouTube -- that made him the object of considerable community attention.
As of Friday, the video had more than 293,000 hits.
Hightower said police sprayed him with a chemical irritant. He was on the ground choking when officer Jesse Zilge kicked him once in the chest and chin area. Zilge and another officer are also seen in the video slamming Hightower's head into the hood of a squad car.
Hightower has denied threatening or hurting his former girlfriend. He posted bail and was released from custody Aug. 30.
Police said the woman had "expressed extreme fear of Hightower" and believed he would carry out his threats, which included killing her.
On Friday, however, she backed away from those allegations, saying that she has a 2-year-old son with Hightower and she wants to get back together. She attributed the recent trouble between them to the July 23 death of their younger child, who was born prematurely.
"Ever since then we've been having complications, but I wasn't scared that he was going to kill me or anything," she said. "I do love him and I want to work on things because of the tragedy we went through."
Asked how he is feeling since the incident with police, Hightower said, "Not good at all. My ear's still messed up real bad. I can't hear out of my left ear."
A pretrial hearing was scheduled for Oct. 17, with a jury trial set for Nov. 13.
In the meantime, Hightower is due to report back to the jail Monday to serve his sentence on another case. He got 45 days for an August 2011 confrontation in which an acquaintance took offense when Hightower greeted the man by saying: "What up, boy?"
They argued, and the man told police Hightower punched him in the face, knocking out his two front teeth, according to a criminal complaint. Hightower pleaded guilty to third-degree assault.
Emily Gurnon can be reached at 651-228-5522. Follow her attwitter.com/emilygurnon .
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