SPRINGFIELD — A 36-year-old Springfield man is accused of threatening and head-butting an officer, and kicking a squad car multiple times on March 29, in charges in Brown County District Court.

Seven charges were filed against Steven L. Dingman, 10 W. Maple St., Springfield on March 31. They include felony first-degree damage to property, felony threats of violence, gross misdemeanor harassment, fourth-degree assault, obstruct legal process, misdemeanor disorderly conduct and a petty misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Dingman, who is in custody at the Brown County Jail, was granted a public defender. A bail hearing was set for 11:30 a.m. April 1.

According to court documents, Springfield Police officer Justin Robertson was contacted by a man at 7:10 p.m. March 29 who said someone just ran through his yard yelling something, then tried to get into a parked semi on 395th Avenue, just north of the apartments on Maple St.

At the scene, Robertson identified a man bystanders pointed to outside the apartment complex as Dingman. Robertson placed Dingman in handcuffs and emptied his pockets, finding a small scale with a green substance on it, and a pocketknife with a 4.5-inch blade. Robertson said Dingman held a device commonly used to smoke marijuana, then dropped it.

Robertson said Dingman asked him “Hey Robertson, you got kids at home?” then tried to get away from Robertson, who took Dingman to the ground to prevent him from trying to escape.

Dingman later commented to bystanders that he knew where they live and that some gang members would come get them. At one point on the audio recording, Dingman said he wanted to kill a cop.

When Sleepy Eye Police officer David Gordon arrived, officers stood Dingman up and walked him to a squad car. Inside the car, Dingman kicked the door to try and escape. After Brown County deputies arrived, officers put hobble restraints on Dingman to prevent him from kicking the inside of the squad car.

Enroute to the Brown County Evaluation Center in New Ulm, Dingman was able to free his feet from the hobble restraint and started kicking the squad door again. Robertson stopped the vehicle and with help from other lawmen, placed restraints around Dingman’s waist and readjusted handcuffs behind his back and readjusted the hobble restraint device.

During that time, Dingman head-butted Robertson, contacting the face and nose area, but no visible marks were caused by the headbutt, according to the complaint.

At the Brown County Evaluation Center, officers removed Dingman from the squad car before he kicked and cracked a rear passenger-side taillight cover on a Brown County Evaluation Center vehicle.

Dingman was placed in an isolation cell inside the evaluation center, became combative, and had to be restrained again. Robertson pulled a taser and told Dingman to stop or he would be tased. Dingman continued to struggle and was tased for .2 seconds.

Both squad vehicle doors were bent out near the top from Dingman’s repeated kicking. A repair estimate from Jeff’s Body Shop was $3,929.67.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.