By Sarah Nigbor

A Baldwin man is heading to prison for his role in attacking a juvenile and police ovcers at a River Falls home in July 2020.

Tony Rocha, 46, formerly of River Falls, was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision at an Aug. 5 sentencing hearing. Rocha had been convicted Jan. 6 of felony intimidate victim/threaten force and three felony battery or threat to judge, law en- forcement ovcer or prosecu tor charges. Felony possess firearm – convicted of out- of-state felony, felony child abuse – intentionally cause harm, felony strangulation and suuocation, felony resist ovcer – substantial bodily harm/soft tissue injury, battery, intentionally mistreat animals, and two disorderly conduct charges were readin but dismissed at that time. However, Rocha failed to appear for the April sentencing hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was apprehended July 29 and his signature bond revoked until the sentencing hearing.

According to the complaint: A juvenile called police at 7:35 a.m. July 27, 2020 from a residence in the 700 block of West Cedar Street in River Falls to report she had been strangled by her father. She said her dad was hitting people and throwing things in the home, threatening to kill her.

When ovcers arrived, they saw the suspect, Rocha, in the side yard. He was shirtless without shoes but wear- ing shorts. Ovcers called out to him, but he didn’t acknowledge them and went into the back entrance of the house. The police entered an enclosed porch on the front of the house; suddenly, the front door opened and a woman started shouting at them that they needed a warrant to come in the house. The ovcers told her they were responding to a 911 call, but she continued to scream at them to leave.

Rocha came to the door yelling obscenities, moving erratically back and forth. One ovcer was struck by the door twice before being charged by Rocha, who punched the ovcer's upper body with closed fists three to five times and three times in the head/ear. The ovcer drove Rocha across the room and commanded him to stop, but Rocha continued swear- ing and puvng out his chest. He charged the ovcer again and tried to punch him, but the ovcer was able to push him onto the couch. Another ovcer helped him try to con trol Rocha, but the woman drove herself between the of- ficers and tried to stop them from handcuvng him. The ovcers called for backup as they continued to struggle with the out-of-control couple on the couch. At one point, the woman held an of- ficer's hand back and Rocha punched him in the upper lip before the ovcer regained control. The woman then kicked the ovcer in the knee twice and threatened to kick him in the private area, at which point he pulled out his Taser and pointed it at her.

Once Rocha was hand- cuued, he threatened ov cers, saying he knows where they live, before becoming unresponsive. EMS arrived and evaluated him and he quickly became verbally aggressive again. He was taken to River Falls Area Hospital for an evaluation.

After Rocha and the woman were removed from the home, ovcers inter viewed others present. The juvenile told police she and her friend, who was staying over, were sleeping in bed when her father came into the room at 7:30 a.m. and threw the family dogs on them. Rocha was intoxicated and had been drinking for several days. She didn’t know what made him snap, but he threatened to beat her up and began swearing at her. He began punching the walls then grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the wall, breaking the drywall. The friend got between the two of them to try to break up the fight, as well as the woman of the house (who later assaulted ovcers). Ro cha threw the woman into a closet; the friend was on Facetime with her mother, who saw the incident occur. They then called police and Rocha left the room.

The juvenile said she was strangled for at least 40 seconds with one hand and about 10 seconds with both hands. Rocha was stopped the first time by the friend and the second time by the woman.

The friend told police Rocha also laid on them in the bed for about five minutes, attempting to wake them up. One of the dogs bit him and he threw it against the wall, at which point he went after the juvenile, threw her into the wall and started choking her.

When conducting interviews around the neighborhood, police learned one neighbor had heard four to five gunshots go ou around 4 a.m. Ovcers found a gun shot through the residence’s south fence. After obtaining a search warrant, ovcers found a Ruger P98 9mm handgun beneath Rocha’s mattress.

One ovcer was treated at River Falls Area Hospital for a head injury, strained neck, sprained left knee, left hip contusion and vision problems related to the couple’s assault.

Tony Rocha