Charges: Man lit dumpster on fire near Winston Smith protests, causing nearly $80K in damages

A Minneapolis man lit a dumpster on fire in the Uptown neighborhood near where a man was fatally shot by U.S. marshals, charges say.

Tyler M. Ferguson, 22, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with one count each of second-degree arson and first-degree damage to property.

Ferguson is accused of lighting a dumpster on fire behind Stella's Fish Cafe on July 6, causing $52,000 in damage to the restaurant's heating and cooling system, $20,000 in damage to the dumpster area and $7,000-$10,000 in damage to the security camera system.

Winston Smith, a 32-year-old Black man, was fatally shot June 3 on the top level of a parking garage near Stella's, where he had dined before he was killed. Members of a U.S. marshals task force were trying to arrest him on a firearms warrant. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) has said that Smith fired a weapon from inside the car. Attorneys for a woman inside the car with Smith said she never saw a gun. Protesters have demonstrated almost nightly.

According to the criminal complaint: Security footage at the scene showed Ferguson and another man enter the alley about 3:04 a.m. The other man carried a brown paper bag that he ignited and placed atop cardboard that was on the dumpsters. The man left.

Ferguson, who was wearing a "bullet vest," then added a cardboard box to the burning bag, watched it ignite and "moves the cardboard to ensure the fire catches," the charges said.

Ferguson then moved the burning bag to the rear of a dumpster where it ignited other items.

Video from July 3 allegedly showed Ferguson pushing one of Stella's dumpsters into the alley.

The charges said there have been "many" fires in the area using nearby dumpsters.

A restaurant employee told police they had spoken to Ferguson while he was protesting at the scene weeks earlier and he "bragged" that he had previously burned a dumpster and wanted to burn down Stella's.

Police arrested him July 9.

Court records show that Ferguson was also wanted on an arrest warrant issued in May for failing to appear at a sentencing in Anoka County.

Ferguson pleaded guilty last year in Anoka County to third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a victim between the age of 16 and 17. He initially also faced charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and threats of violence.

Court records show that Anoka County District Judge Suzanne Brown released Ferguson from custody as long as he stayed in touch with probation and appeared at future court dates, among other conditions.

Court documents in the Anoka County case said Ferguson repeatedly sexually assaulted the victim in a hotel room last year while watching a movie with her and her sister, who was in the bathroom during the assault.

The victim told him to stop multiple times. He threatened to kill her if she told anyone what had happened and left the room after she bit him.

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708

Twitter: @ChaoStrib