No Charges in Robbinsdale Armstrong 'Choking Incident'

Four students are back at school after spending much of the last month in limbo.

Three seniors who are members of the hockey team, including 18-year-old Danny Dmohoski,  on Oct. 6, by putting the boy in a choke hold. The other two seniors and the victim are juveniles, and Patch has chosen not to publish their names.

Charges will not be filed against any of the students, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

The Attorney's Office "has informed the Plymouth Police Department that it will not charge any of the students involved in the Oct. 6 incident at Armstrong High School in which one student was choked. There is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspects intended to harm or assault the victim," a statement from the office to Patch said.

he was just "messing around" with three friends in the hallway before class on Oct. 6. Forty-five minutes later, he said he and two teammates were suspended from school. 

The three were initially suspended for 10 days, but Dmohoski said that turned into 45 days and a possible expulsion.

Over the past three weeks, have spoken out against the district's treatment of Dmohoski and his teammates, but the Robbinsdale district remained firm that it would not comment on the incident, even pointing out that it couldn't confirm there was an incident in the first place.

"We take our students' privacy very seriously," said Tia Clasen, communications director for the Robbinsdale Area Schools. "If you think about HIPAA and doctor-patient privilege, you'll understand the level of privacy we're talking about here."

However, Clasen did encourage people to read the student handbook that is mailed to all the parents in the district at the beginning of the year (Patch has attached the PDF).

The handbook puts various disciplinary problems into four categories. For example, a Level 1 is given to minor infractions like "tardiness" or "name calling." A Level 4 is given to the most severe infractions like "selling drugs," "sexual misconduct" and "assault."

"If a staff member believes they're witnessing an assault, it automatically becomes a Level 4. No questions asked," Clasen said. "People think the district can arrest students or press charges, but we can't. We do exactly what the handbook says we should do. If we determine there's a Level 4, a police liaison officer is automatically involved."

Dmohoski explained to Patch that not only were he and his teammates suspended for 45 days, he was thrown in the Hennepin County Jail overnight on Friday, Oct. 14, and his two teammates spent a weekend in juvenile detention.

Clasen stressed that the liaison officer is a member of the Plymouth Police Department and not the Robbinsdale district. 

"If a Robbinsdale student is arrested or charged with a crime for something that happened while in school, the district isn't the one making the arrest or bringing charges against a student," Clasen said. "We only bring that initial alert to the police department's attention."

Initially, there was speculation the incident was related to a problem the district had with "Students also told Patch they thought the boys might be acting out wrestling moves they'd seen on TV.

But Dmohoski told Patch both were incorrect.

"One of my friends put his arm around (the victim)," Dmohoski explained. "I jumped on top, sort of like I was hugging them. Then my other friend put his arms around all of us. We're all good friends, including (the victim). You see guys like us do this kind of thing all the time."

Dmohoski and his teammates served more than 10 days of suspension before returning back to school this week. And Dmohoski told Patch he wasn't opposed to that short suspension.

"Should we be suspended? Sure. We shouldn't have been goofing around like that. So five or 10 days might be a good punishment for being too rowdy with a friend in school. But 45 days? A whole hockey season? No way."

There's no word on whether the three teammates will return to the hockey team.  Dmohoski said he was being recruited by area colleges for hockey and lacrosse before Oct. 6, but he has not said if the 'choking incident' has changed that. 

As for the 'choking incident,' the district still cannot comment on what happened, and Patch has been unsuccessful in reaching the victim for comment.