St. Paul man charged in near-fatal beating

A man has been arrested in a beating that left a 26-year-old St. Paul resident in Regions Hospital with potentially fatal brain swelling.

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office has charged Issac Maiden, 19, of St. Paul with four counts of gang-related assault and robbery in the first degree.

According to the complaint, the charges stem from the night of Aug. 4, when a St. Paul police officer was flagged down and directed to the intersection of Payne and Reaney avenues. As the officer approached, about 40 or 50 young people fled the scene.

The officer found a man unresponsive on his back with his pants off and his shirt torn. He was later identified as Raymond Widstrand.

Witnesses told police they had been at a party and a fight had started outside. They said Widstrand had walked into the crowd and three gang members knocked him down, hit him, stomped on him and stripped him.

Police say witnesses identified one of those men as Maiden, reportedly a member of the Ham Crazy gang. The complaint says Maiden denied assaulting Widstrand.

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