Two Minnesota men are accused of attacking a man and leaving him unresponsive outside a Hager City strip club on the 4^th of July.

Marius Omega Bennett, 21, Cottage Grove, Minn., was ordered to pay $7,500 cash bail July 8 in Pierce County Circuit Court on felony first degree reckless injury (party to a crime) and felony substantial battery – intend bodily harm (party to a crime) charge. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and/or fines up to $100,000.

According to the complaint:
Deputies were dispatched at 1:30 a.m. to Sugars Gentlemen’s Club (N1620 County Road VV, Hager City) for a man who had allegedly been jumped and left in the middle of the road unconscious. Life Link Air Ambulance transported the unresponsive victim to Regions Hospital in St. Paul due to the severity of his injuries. Later that morning he was listed in critical condition.

Red Wing police located the black Dodge Durango that fled from the scene, which was occupied by driver Fabian Adrian Tovar, 18; Elijah Samuel Pacini, 20; Bennett; and Antonio Brayon Finley, 21, Cottage Grove. Video surveillance shows the Dodge stopping in the middle of County Road VV. Two men, identified as Bennett and Finley, get out of the vehicle and begin stomping and hitting a man’s body and head in the middle of the road. The incident lasted about three minutes before the men got back into the vehicle, which headed south toward Highway 63.

During a search of the vehicle, brought about by police seeing an open container of alcohol in plain view, officers found a blood stain on the center console, a bloody phone charger in the front cup holder and a baggie of marijuana in a locked glove box. Investigators located a large pool of blood in the roadway and Finley had blood stains on his shorts.

After interviewing all four vehicle occupants, one of them told police that a white male with alcohol breath came up to their vehicle, which was parked at Sugars, and began “mouthing off” to them. Finley and Bennett exited the vehicle and exchanged words with the man. Pacini said he got out of the vehicle to break up the altercation and asked to leave. While they were leaving, he alleged the white male hit their vehicle and tried to open the door. Pacini said he didn’t see anything, but that Bennett and Finley got out of the Durango again. He said he heard a “scuffle” toward the back of the vehicle, but then the two men got back into the vehicle and they left. All four confirmed they had cell phones and none of them called police about the incident.

During his interview, Bennett advised officers he had been “stomping” the victim while Finley had “slapped” him.

Finley is facing the same charges in Pierce County Circuit Court. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. Bennett is scheduled to appear at a status conference at 3 p.m. Aug. 18.