Man Charged with Punching, Strangling Rosemount Woman

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A Minneapolis man has been charged with repeatedly punching a Rosemount woman in the face and strangling her, once after grabbing a carrier holding her 2-month-old baby away from her.

Sammie Lee Burch, 35, is charged with two felonies: domestic assault, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine; and domestic assault by strangulation, which has a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.  

According to the criminal complaint, Rosemount police were called to a home on Oct. 4 after the victim called and told a dispatcher that she had been punched in the face and choked by Burch, whom she described as her boyfriend.  

She asked the dispatcher to tell officers not to use their lights and sirens because she was upstairs with her two children and she was afraid of how Burch would react if he knew the police were coming.

As officers approached the front door, they heard a man later identified as Burch ask, “Did you call the cops?”, according to the complaint.

The victim told police that her relationship with Burch had been recently “deteriorating” and that he choked her during an argument on Sept. 5. She said she drove Burch to a bus stop so he could go to work on Oct. 3. On the way, she told him that when he got home, he should move out because their relationship wasn’t working.

Burch became upset and refused to get out of the car at the bus stop, so the victim returned home, the complaint says. When they arrived, the argument escalated and the victim got out of the car carrying her 2-month-old child in a baby carrier.

Burch grabbed the carrier away from the victim and grabbed her by the throat, squeezing until she had trouble breathing and became dizzy, she told police. Burch then punched the victim three times in the face, knocking her to the ground, according to the complaint.

Officers noted swelling and bruising on the victim’s face, along with cuts on her lips. She told police that blood from her injuries ended up on the baby and the baby carrier. She said she told Burch that she wanted to go to the hospital. He replied, “You’re not going anywhere.”

Burch’s criminal history includes two convictions for violating a protection order in 2003, a domestic assault conviction in 2007 and a conviction for domestic assault by strangulation in 2008.

As of Wednesday night, Burch remained in the Dakota County Jail on a $30,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Oct. 30 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.