MINNEAPOLIS - Gerret Parks appeared in Hennepin County Court for the first time Thursday afternoon. Parks is the 39-year-old Bloomington man charged with throwing a metal vise through the window of a vehicle on February 27, injuring an Iraq war veteran.
In the incident on Normandale Boulevard in Bloomington, National Guard Sgt. First Class Jonathan Stacke suffered severe injuries to his face, jaw and teeth. One of the felonies against Parks is First Degree Assault.
The brief hearing Thursday inside the Hennepin County Holding Center was only to grant Parks a public defender. Parks was bailed out of jail twice in recent days on separate charges in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
He had been arrested on Friday for the February 27 incident but was not charged and met a $50,000 bond. He was freed on Sunday morning and arrested hours later in Polk County, Wisconsin. After a high speed chase through St. Croix Falls, police say Parks was intoxicated and resisted arrest. He was charged for fleeing officers, which is a felony. Other charges may follow after lab results are returned.
Parks was able to post $2,500 cash bail in Wisconsin and was free again on Monday. On Wednesday, Hennepin County authorities charged Parks and issued a warrant for his arrest. He was arrested without incident at his sister's home in New Prague at approximately Midnight Thursday by Scott County Deputies and assisted by New Prague officers.
Parks was turned over to police in Bloomington who transferred him immediately to the Hennepin County Holding Center. He was booked at 1 a.m. on Thursday.
Judge Mark Wernick set an omnibus hearing date for April 6 at 9 a.m. before Judge Lionel Norris on the Minnesota charges. He faces a court date of March 13 in the Polk County, Wis., charges.
Jeanette Parks, Gerret Parks' mother, who lives in the same Bloomington house with her son, sat with two friends without emotion as she watched her son in the courtroom Thursday afternoon.
She is believed to be the person who posted his bail on the two previous incidents. She did not speak to reporters and did not indicate that she would post bail a third time.
Bail was set at $800,000.
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