Man faces assault charges after Sauk Centre standoff

An Alexandria man accused of shooting a Stearns County deputy in the arm with an arrow last week in Sauk Centre has been charged with felony assault and other crimes.

Ramey James Olson, 31, made his first court appearance Monday in St. Cloud. He is charged with three counts of first-degree assault, use of deadly force against a police officer, felony theft of a motor vehicle and first-degree burglary while possessing a dangerous weapon.

Olson was arrested last Thursday after a standoff with authorities at a Sauk Centre home.

According to the criminal complaint, Olson is accused of stealing a pickup truck from an Osakis business Thursday morning and driving it erratically through Sauk Centre.

The complaint states that Olson crashed the truck through a closed garage door at a Sauk Centre residence, entered the house and armed himself with a compound bow he found in a closet.

After law enforcement officers arrived and entered the house, Olson used the bow to shoot Deputy Paul Orvis in the arm with a target arrow, the complaint states. Two other law enforcement officers returned fire with their service weapons.

A Minnesota state trooper and a Melrose police officer fired their weapons at Olson, striking him in the shoulder, buttocks and hand. After a two-hour negotiation, officers used a stun gun to subdue and arrest him.

The neighborhood around the standoff was evacuated during the standoff, and Sauk Centre schools went into lockdown.

Olson was released from the hospital on Saturday and booked into the Stearns County jail.

Deputy Orvis suffered a broken arm and underwent surgery to remove the arrow shaft.

On Monday, Stearns County District Court Judge John Scherer set bail at $2 million or $750,000 on condition that Olson remain law abiding, not leave Minnesota, abstain from mood-altering chemicals and submit to random testing.