Security guards at Austin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No.

Monday, October 23, 2000

Security guards at Austin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1216 were unable to quell a disturbance Saturday night.

Austin Police Department officers needed the assistance of the Mower County Sheriff’s Department and the Minnesota State Patrol to bring the combatants under control, according to police reports.

Two arrests were reported as well as more than $2,000 in damages to the VFW Hall.

An employee of the VFW post suffered a heart attack in the midst of the melee and had to be resuscitated by a Gold Cross Ambulance crew.

According to an Austin Police Department report, four 911 emergency telephone calls were received near 12:30 a.m. Saturday from the VFW. Upon arrival, the first officer on the scene, Patrolman Matt Holten, observed a crowd of 50 to 75 individuals in the parking lot with chairs, iron table legs, bricks and bottles.

Holten’s canine partner, Rocket, was released to assist him until more police officers as well as sheriff’s deputies and state troopers arrived.

Eduardo Antonio Nava, 28, of Austin, and Genaro Alfredo Yepez, 25 of Austin, were the only two people arrested. Nava faces second-degree assault charges and Yepez faces disorderly conduct charges.

Premier Security of Rochester had two individuals staffing the dance. One of the security guards was 68 years old.

The security guards told police investigators the dance attracted a large number of Hispanic men and women. At some point during the evening, a large group of Hispanics sitting on one side of the VFW Hall’s dance floor walked to the center of the floor where they were met by another large number of Hispanics from the other side of the dance floor. A fight broke out with the combatants brandishing chairs, bottles and table or chair legs.

It was at this point that Mathilda Minto, 61 of Waltham, an employee of the VFW, suffered an apparent heart attack.

A Gold Cross Ambulance crew arrived at the scene and began to resuscitate the woman with the defibrillator equipment after she showed no sign of a pulse.

The woman was revived and taken from the VFW to a waiting ambulance. She was taken to Austin Medical Center’s emergency room and later flown by Mayo One helicopter to St. Mary’s Hospital at Rochester, where she is recovering.

When the fight spilled outside the VFW hall, the participants left behind a scene of extensive damage, according to the report. Display cases were broken and items taken. The ceiling and walls of the facility were damaged as well as furniture and fixtures.

Austin Police Chief Paul M. Philipp told reporters today that because of similar incidents happening at Riverside Arena, the Knights of Columbus Hall and the Holiday Inn Austin Convention Center facilities, officers have complained to him that the events’ organizers fail to provide adequate security and control, causing their lives to be endangered unnecessarily.

Philipp said he has met with the hosts of the dances, including most recently the VFW Post’s officials, to discuss the recurring incidents.

Sexual assault reported

An Austin man faces criminal sexual conduct charges after being arrested early Sunday.

According to an Austin Police Department report, Roy Teresi, 34, remained at an Austin residence Saturday night baby sitting, while a male acquaintance and two females, staying at the same residence, went to local bars.

When the trio returned, Teresi was playing cards. The male acquaintance and a female companion went to sleep on a hide-a-bed downstairs in the residence and the alleged victim, a 27-year-old woman from Fairfax, went upstairs to a bedroom to sleep.

Sometime later, the victim awoke with Teresi in her bed and went downstairs and told the others she had been sexually assaulted by Teresi.

A male subject identified as Scott Mayhew proceeded to assault Teresi, who was assaulted three other times by Mayhew until he barricaded himself in an upstairs bedroom and called the Austin-Mower County Law Enforcement Center.

When police arrived, they discovered a bloodied Teresi. The other three adults all said Teresi sexually assaulted the Fairfax women.

Teresi was taken to Austin Medical Center and treated and released for wounds he suffered in the multiply beatings, according to the police report.

The alleged victim also was taken to AMC for a sexual assault examination.

The Mower County attorney’s office will review the evidence, pending a court appearance by Teresi, according to the police report.