Police: Man Instigates Assault With Knife Over Parking Space

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – An 18-year-old Farmington man is accused of attacking another man with a knife with his wife and baby nearby in a dispute over an apartment complex parking space, according to charges filed Thursday in Dakota County Court.

Robert Scott Meyer was charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal damage to property in connection with the July 13 incident.

According to a criminal complaint, Farmington Police were dispatched to an apartment complex at about 9 p.m. on July 13 on a report of an assault with a knife. When officers arrived, the victim was with his girlfriend and infant son. The victim told police that Meyer had chased him with a knife and that man on crutches in front of the apartment building gave Meyer the knife.

The victim told police he drove to the apartment, where he lived, and found that someone had parked in his parking spot. He said it's standard practice to honk the car horn once so that somebody would know to come out and move their car.

Upon hearing the horn, Meyer came out of the apartment complex and when the victim asked him to move his car, Meyer refused and became belligerent, the complaint states. Meyer swung at the victim when he got out of his car, the two started fighting. Meyer's girlfriend came outside and got him to walk away.

The victim then saw a man on crutches hand Meyer a large butcher knife. Meyer ran towards the victim, who fled on foot, according to the complaint. The man ran for about a block before Meyer caught up to him and swung at him with the knife. His girlfriend got him to walk away again, but he smashed the victim's car with the knife several times and put dents in the car with the victim's girlfriend and infant son still inside the car.

Police later found Meyer hiding in the closet of an apartment. If convicted, Meyer faces more than seven years in prison and up to $15,000 in fines.