MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The only person facing serious charges after Saturday’s Dinkytown disturbance made his first court appearance on Tuesday.
Michael Conley Juberian, 22, is an Augsburg College student and is now facing two charges, including second-degree rioting with a dangerous weapon and fourth-degree assault of a peace officer.
Last Saturday, 20 people were arrested in Dinkytown after the Gopher men’s hockey team lost the NCAA game to Union College. Police received reports of arson and property damage. Some of the arrested were either let go or cited.
The crowd of hundreds ignored the warnings of possible arrests the day before from University of Minnesota school officials and Minneapolis Police.
According to the criminal complaint, Juberian and a number of others started throwing bottles at Minneapolis Police officers. He also threw rocks and chunks of baseball-sized concrete at police who were trying to control the large crowd.
Juberian’s attorney says his client was arrested more than two hours later coming out of The Library Bar near 13th Avenue and 4th Street SE. The complaint states officers subdued Juberian with a “stun blow.”
“I’m a little concerned that out of 20 arrests, one Augsburg student is charged with a felony for rioting,” said Juberian’s attorney Timothy Shields. “It seems to us either everybody was rioting or nobody was rioting.”
The rioting statue requires at least three people to be assembled and disturbing the peace by intentionally acting with unlawful force or violence to police. So far, Juberian is the only individual facing charges.
“So we’re a little concerned here, how he’s been singled out as a public policy matter,” Shields said. “And we don’t know who the other two people are. It seems to be only him.”
On Tuesday, Juberian was released on $20,000 bail with the conditions that he makes all his court appearances, remains a law-abiding citizen and stays out of Dinkytown.
