Former Minneapolis firefighter accused of attacking Gopher football alum is jailed again after pursuit

A former Minneapolis firefighter charged with assaulting a former Minnesota Gophers football star is back in jail after posting bond, cutting off his ankle bracelet and leading law enforcement on a pursuit in western Minnesota that lasted more than an hour, officials said.

Eric M. Jagers, 54, was booked into the Wilkin County jail late Saturday morning on suspicion of fleeing police in a vehicle and obstructing the legal process in connection with the chase in Breckenridge a few hours earlier.

Jagers, who worked for the Fire Department for 24 years until his retirement in February, was charged last Monday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and threats of violence with reckless disregard in connection with the encounter that occurred on April 14 in the 4000 block of 17th Avenue S.

He was jailed on the day of the assault and released Thursday after posting $25,000 bond and agreeing to electronic home monitoring. Once Jagers is returned to Hennepin County, prosecutors will be "asking for higher bail than typical on the reckless discharge case given the danger posed by this new conduct," said Nicholas Kimball of the County Attorney's Office on Monday.

The victim was 44-year-old Tellis Redmon, a running back for the University of Minnesota from 1999 to 2001. He is a special education paraprofessional and an assistant football coach for Cooper High School. Redmon escaped without physical injury despite the gun being fired next to his head as the two fought for the weapon, police said.

At one point during the assault, Jagers told Redmon he was a firefighter and would avoid getting in trouble because he knows police, the charges read. Also, Jagers called Redmon a racial epithet during the clash, according to Redmon and another witness, the criminal complaint said.

Defense attorney Peter Wold told the Star Tribune his client "is dealing with mental health issues that he's going to address" upon his release.

Breckenridge Police Chief Kris Karlgaard said Jagers raised suspicions while at a gas station shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday for removing his court-issued monitoring bracelet from his ankle.

Surveillance video from inside the Blazer Express gas station obtained by KFGO Radio in Fargo showed Jagers borrowing scissors or clippers from a clerk and cutting off the ankle bracelet.

According to the police chief:

Jagers fled police on northbound Hwy. 75 only to head back to Breckenridge. Police from Breckenridge, neighboring Wahpeton, N.D., and the Sheriff's Office put down tire-deflating stop sticks, but Jagers kept driving.

The pickup hit a sign at Hwys. 75 and 210 in Breckenridge and stopped. Jagers got out of the truck holding a bow. Officers deployed less-than-lethal rounds and arrested Jagers shortly after 8 a.m. as he resisted arrest. He was treated at a nearby hospital for minor injuries from the officers' bean bag rounds.

Wold said Monday he was unaware of Jagers' troubles in western Minnesota and had no information about his client's release from the Hennepin County jail.

The charges in Hennepin County say that when questioned by police, Jagers said his anger "went sideways" when he saw Redmon drive over a board near his garage and demanded that the board be picked up.

Barely 30 minutes before the incident behind his home, Jagers stood outside his former Minneapolis fire station on the North Side and fired a handgun, according to a police report and a criminal complaint filed Monday alleging reckless discharge of a firearm.

At some point during his visit, Jagers retrieved his empty holster and someone said to him, "Hey, did someone already get your sidearm away from you?" the complaint quoted a witness as saying.

Jagers went back to his pickup and returned to the fire station with a large silver revolver. He pointed the gun to the sky and squeezed off a shot.

"Hear that? That's the sound of victory," the charging document disclosed Jagers as saying.

Jagers explained later to police that he went there to lift weights with his former fellow firefighters and fired a shot “because he thought it would be funny to do so,” a criminal complaint disclosed.