A driver bit a corrections deputy on the forearm while being booked into jail after a high-speed chase that began in Hastings, according to the complaint.
Marisa Francis Martinez faces three charges filed October 15 in Dakota County District Court: fourth-degree assault of a corrections employee causing demonstrable bodily harm, fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and fourth-degree driving while impaired.
According to the complaint, a deputy attempted to stop a vehicle traveling southbound on Vermillion Street near Cannon Street in Hastings at about 11:51 p.m. on October 13 after radar showed it was going 75 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone. The deputy activated lights and sirens and followed the vehicle at about 120 miles per hour without closing the distance.
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The complaint states the vehicle continued down Highway 61, turned onto 240th Street, then onto Cannon Falls Boulevard, ending up behind another vehicle. As the deputy began to catch up, the suspect vehicle turned off its lights, passed the other vehicle in the opposite lane and turned onto 250th Street, a gravel road, before pulling over.
Officers removed the driver and sole occupant, identified as Marisa Francis Martinez, from the vehicle and placed her under arrest. Officers noted a strong smell of consumed alcohol coming from Martinez. After waiving her Miranda rights, Martinez admitted to consuming alcohol that evening and said she was “not completely sober.”
Martinez completed several field sobriety tests, where officers observed six clues on the horizontal gaze nystagmus, six clues on the walk and turn, and two clues on the one leg stand. A preliminary breath test showed a result over the legal limit of .08, according to the complaint.
Martinez was transported to the Dakota County Jail. During transport, the complaint says Martinez became irate and agitated, requiring corrections deputies to remove her from the squad vehicle upon arrival. While being processed into the jail, Martinez began to resist, causing deputies to take her to the ground.
As corrections deputies attempted to gain control, Martinez bit one of the deputies on the forearm. The victim later told deputies he felt pain from the bite and that Martinez attempted to bite him a second time. Photographs showed a red bite mark on the deputy’s forearm.
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Jurisdictional Context
Dakota County, immediately south of Saint Paul, is Minnesota’s third-largest county by population. The Dakota County Attorney’s Office prosecutes felonies through the First Judicial District; cases are heard at the Dakota County Judicial Center in Hastings.
