Cottage Grove Man Gets 8 Years For Party Assault

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Cottage Grove man was sentenced Wednesday to more than 8 years in prison for crashing a party last October wearing a ski mask, flashing a knife and punching the man his ex-girlfriend was seeing.

Brian Hickson, 33, was sentenced in Washington County to 105 months in prison for first-degree burglary with a dangerous weapon.

The charge stemmed from the early morning hours of Oct. 18. Authorities say Hickson was wearing a skeleton-faced ski mask when he kicked in the kitchen door of a home where a party was taking place. He then began punching the man his ex-girlfriend was seeing with brass knuckles.

Others at the party dragged Hickson outside, where he pulled out a knife. He also said he had a gun and allegedly threatened to kill everyone, a criminal complaint states.

The party-goers held Hickson down until police arrived.

While no gun was found on Hickson, they did find lug nuts in his pocket. They belonged to the car his ex-girlfriend drove. Hickson had allegedly taken them off her car, which was parked nearby at her parents' home.

County Attorney Pete Orput described Hickson's actions as "a homicide waiting to happen."

Hickson's ex-girlfriend told police that she had been with Hickson for 13 years and that the two had four children together, the complaint states.

She said she still lived with him, although they were no longer a couple and he had grown increasingly jealous. She showed officers threatening texts from Hickson, in which he implied he was going to burn their house down.

The woman said he was afraid to contact police about the threats because she feared Hickson would kill her if he found out.