Charge: Driver hit man with van outside Minneapolis mosque he had targeted before

A 37-year-old man with a long history of mental illness was charged Friday with striking a man with a minivan outside a Minneapolis mosque, where he has allegedly committed other violent acts.

James E. Suttles of Minneapolis was charged with second-degree assault in connection with the hit-and-run midday Wednesday outside the Alhikma Islamic Center in the 100 block of E. 32nd Street.

Suttles remained jailed in lieu of $150,000 bail and has a court hearing scheduled Tuesday. Court records did not list an attorney for him.

The injured 36-year-old man, Osman Ahmed, was taken to a hospital with noncritical injuries.

Ahmed is a staff member of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which called for the incident to be investigated as a bias crime.

Ahmed, who attends the mosque, said Friday he couldn’t see the driver’s face as the van raced toward him.

“My only reaction was, ‘I’m going to get hit but just try to be on top of the car so I can fall off,’ ” Ahmed said during a news conference called by CAIR.

The criminal complaint against Suttles does not include a count classifying what happened as a bias-motivated crime.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement that Suttles has committed “prior violent incidents at this mosque.”

“If through further investigation we determine that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this incident was motivated by bias, we will prosecute accordingly,” she added.

Court records show that judges have had Suttles civilly committed three times for in-patient psychological treatment from 2017 to 2019. One doctor found him to be violent toward family members while suffering from “deeply fixed paranoia and persecutory delusions,” according to a court filing. During one of his arrests, Suttles cut a police officer with a knife, the petition noted.

Suttles’ criminal history includes charges in eight cases from 2015 to 2022 of fleeing police, property damage, terroristic threats, assaulting a police officer, obstructing the legal process, violating a restraining order, second-degree assault, theft and disorderly conduct.

In each case, judges dismissed the charges because of mental illness.

According to Friday’s complaint:

Ahmed told police that he had just parked his car in the mosque’s parking lot and was removing items for the back seat when a minivan appeared and sped toward him.

He said he tried to run, but the van’s driver swerved and hit him. Ahmed said he was thrown onto the hood, then rolled off and hit his head on the pavement.

Officers saw a “significant injury to his left knee and scrapes to his left arm and hip.”

Witnesses told police it appeared the driver was trying to run Ahmed over. Surveillance video supported the accounts of Ahmed and the witnesses.

The video captured the license plate of the van, which was registered to Suttles. Police arrested the suspect that night after finding him in the vehicle parked outside his residence.

A mosque religious leader told police that Suttles was barred from the property on May 15 for parking outside the center “for an extended period of time, just watching the mosque.” The leader said Suttles had previously assaulted him in the mosque.

He said Suttles had committed other troubling acts at the mosque, including another assault, releasing pepper spray into the building and slashing several vehicles’ tires in the parking lot.

“These incidents have been against various people who attend the mosque and not targeted at any one individual,” the complaint read. “The leader stated people attending the mosque were very concerned for their safety and scared of [Suttles].”

Star Tribune staff writer Matt McKinney contributed to this report.