The fiancée of a 45-year-old man said he accidentally bumped into a teen at the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday — after which he was punched, and then a gang of as many as a dozen “kicked and stomped” on his face.
As a result, the victim’s jaw reportedly was fractured in multiple places, which required emergency reconstructive jaw surgery, according to the Pioneer Press.
‘It was just an absolutely senseless act of violence.’
Heather Hoffman told the paper that her fiancé, Sammy Kimbrough, was walking with two friends when he accidentally bumped into another person, “which is inevitable when you’re in a crowd.”
The Pioneer Press said attendance at the Fair throughout Saturday was 198,842.
“This young man ended up getting into a verbal conversation with Sammy, becoming aggressive,” Hoffman added to the paper.
“That bump … from my fiancé to a teenager escalated,” Hoffman told WCCO-TV.
She told the Pioneer Press that “Sammy had tried to say ‘excuse me,’ ‘back up,’ when he then got punched.”
That’s when others “kicked and stomped on his face,” Hoffman added to the station.
She told the paper that the youth was with a group of about eight to 12 people, “and once one of them punched him hard enough and knocked him down, others came and stomped his face into the pavement when he was already unconscious, causing his jaw to be fractured in multiple places, ending up in emergency reconstructive jaw surgery.”
The Minnesota State Fair Police told the Pioneer Press that no one had been arrested as of Wednesday morning.
Kimbrough was released from the hospital after two days, the paper said, adding that his mouth is bandaged shut and — because one of the fractures in his jaw was so high — there are bands to hold his jaw in place with the other side where surgical plates were placed.
“Once that that fracture heals enough for him to open his mouth, he then will have very extensive dental surgery as he has a whole lot of broken, knocked-out and loose teeth …” Hoffman noted to the Pioneer Press.
Kimbrough works for a construction company as a mason tender and has insurance, the paper said, but Hoffman said she expects his medical bills will be expensive.
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“He is still in excruciating pain,” Hoffman also told the paper.
“It was just an absolutely senseless act of violence.”
She added to the Pioneer Press that Kimbrough works summer security during Friday night car shows at Roddy’s Bar & Grill in North St. Paul and knows how to de-escalate situations, which is what he was trying to do Saturday.
Hoffman also told the paper that she wants arrests and prosecutions in the case; the Minnesota State Fair Police Department said anyone with information about the incident can contact them at 651-288-4500.
She added to the Pioneer Press that they go to the Fair every year and usually feel safe there, but Kimbrough has “already mentioned that he’s done with the Minnesota State Fair for the rest of his life.”
Roddy’s Bar & Grill is planning a raffle for Kimbrough on Oct. 10 to raise money for his medical bills and lost wages, the paper said, adding that Hoffman is a bartender at Neumann’s Bar & Grill in North St. Paul, where they’re collecting money.
“Many of you know Sammy and our amazing bartender Heather. They are wonderful people who are always there when anyone needs, right now they need us,” the bar posted on social media, according to the Pioneer Press.
“We have a donation bucket going behind the bar, and it will keep going as long as it needs to be!”
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