Lake Superior school district Superintendent Phil Minkkinen said there are "two sides to every story" when acknowledging his Aug. 14 arrest by a Lake County sheriff's deputy in the parking lot of the Two Harbors Super One grocery store. He was booked in Lake County Jail for violating an order for protection for Molly Minkkinen, now his ex-wife.
Minkkinen posted bail Aug. 15 and was released from the County Jail; the order for protection was dropped and a criminal charge is pending, Lake County Attorney Laura Auron said. He said Monday the issue is private, but he informed the Lake Superior School Board about the arrest, saying the incident was a misunderstanding.
Minkkinen had used his phone to text his wife about picking up some property he was moving out of one of their homes, according to the arrest report.
Minkkinen's wife, who was in Two Harbors to drop off the couple's daughter in a custody exchange, called police when she received the text.
The deputy who filed the arrest report met with Molly Minkkinen and then went to the lot where Minkkinen was waiting for his daughter. The deputy told Minkkinen about the violation and that he would be arrested. Minkkinen repeatedly asked why he was being arrested, the deputy reported.
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Minkkinen was involved in two related court filings later in the week.
On Thursday he was sentenced in Duluth on a petty misdemeanor charge of damage to property regarding an incident earlier this year when he damaged his wife's car at her workplace in Duluth. The damage was estimated to be about $226, which was included as restitution in the $411 in fees Minkkinen was ordered to pay the court.
Police in Duluth investigating that incident in May said Minkkinen at first denied doing anything to his wife's car, but he finally
admitted to breaking her taillight while facing video evidence showing he was in the parking lot that day.
His marriage officially was dissolved in Lake County District Court on Friday.
