LAKEVILLE, Minn — Police in Kentucky arrested a Montana man wanted on felony charges in connection to an assault that happened in a Minnesota Walmart parking lot in late October.
According to the Lakeville Police Department, 60-year-old David Gene Beckett of Corvallis, Montana. was arrested by officers in Lancaster, Kentucky. on Dec. 23.
The assault victim was a 65-year-old man who suffered severe injuries, including a broken leg, and required hospitalization, police said in court documents.
Beckett was charged with third-degree assault in connection to an attack that happened on Oct. 27 at a Lakeville Walmart parking lot. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years and a fine up to $10,000.
According to the criminal complaint, the victim told police that it started as a road rage incident after the suspect accused them of cutting him off on I-35, near County Road 70. The suspect then followed the victim into the Walmart parking lot, and then toward the front of the store.
There, the suspect allegedly used foul language towards the 63-year-old and threatened to "beat" them, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim needed surgery and a metal rod screwed and wired into his right femur, which will stay with him for the rest of his life. Police say he was hospitalized for nine days and needed physical therapy once he was discharged.
Later on Nov. 5, someone who works at a Lakeville business told police that they thought the suspect was Beckett and that he had traveled from Montana to Minnesota for a business deal. The description of the suspect matched the man seen in Walmart security videos, and once police found tracking information of Beckett's phone, it was located at the scene of the assault.
According to the criminal complaint against Beckett, a Lakeville hotel employee told investigators that Beckett had stayed several times at its other locations between Oct. 29 and Nov. 3, one in Iowa and two in Kentucky, after he had cancelled a booking in Lakeville for Oct. 28.
Another hotel in Lakeville said he had checked in on Oct. 25 and checked out on Oct. 28.
Beckett is due back in Dakota County District Court on Feb. 14.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist:
