ST. PETER — A Mankato man is accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a recent domestic violence incident in St. Peter.
Nathan Cole Salic, 35, faces five felonies related to criminal sexual conduct and domestic assault and two misdemeanor domestic assault charges in Nicollet County District Court.
A woman reported Salic to police on Jan. 31 after accusing him of pinning her down, sexually assaulting her and trying to prevent her from breathing, according to a criminal complaint.
In the lead up to this, she said, he had “bear hugged” her. She reported flailing around to free herself, leading her to hit her head so hard she saw stars.
One day earlier the woman told Salic she wanted a restraining order against him, the complaint states. She brought up an alleged incident one year earlier in which he broke her eardrums and nose.
During one previous incident she reported biting him in self-defense and accused him of reporting it to law enforcement as a way to coerce her into not telling them about what he did.
Salic accused the woman of swinging at him after he told her to be quiet. He denied strangling her and said she was holding his head against her and refused to let go at one point.
His initial appearance in court is set for Feb. 9.