Officer details Eller fight blow by blow

At a pretrial hearing, one of two police officers who followed the Vikings Hall of Famer home in April told how he allegedly threatened to kill them and physically resisted them.

By ROCHELLE OLSON, Star Tribune

Last update: January 5, 2009 - 9:02 PM

A Minneapolis police officer who took former Minnesota Vikings great Carl Eller into custody in April provided a wince-inducing account Monday of the hand-to-hand combat that led up to the Hall of Famer's arrest in his north Minneapolis garage.

In the first detailed testimony of what happened, officer Gil Antaya testified in a pretrial hearing that Eller threatened to kill him and the other officer who followed the former player home. He also recalled how Eller lifted him up, threw him across the garage a couple of times and punched him the face, knocking him out.

Eller, 66, is charged with fourth-degree assault and terroristic threats, both felonies. He also is charged with drunken driving and refusing to submit to a sobriety test, both gross misdemeanors. He also has filed a federal lawsuit alleging police intentionally hid or destroyed video evidence from the fight.

His Hennepin County District Court trial is expected to start Thursday. Potential jurors were given questionnaires Monday and will return for questioning, possibly today.

The April incident occurred after Antaya and partner Seth Porras saw Eller drive through a stop sign at high speed and come within inches of side-swiping the patrol car, which was travelling in an oncoming lane in north Minneapolis.

Antaya said he turned the squad car around, turned on the lights and siren, and pursued Eller, who didn't stop until he got to his own driveway, which was less than a mile away. Eller, who is 6 feet 6 and 270 pounds, then refused commands to get out of the car until he drove it into the garage.

Antaya said Eller didn't respond to repeated commands to get down on the floor or show his hands, which were covered by his coat. "I didn't know what I was dealing with," Antaya said, adding that Eller was already under arrest for fleeing police. "He was fairly large. I wasn't going to fight with him."

Antaya said he shot Eller with his Taser, but that didn't faze him. The officer then tried to tackle Eller, but said, "It didn't happen" and Eller lifted him up off the ground.

Antaya again tried to stun Eller with the Taser gun, but it didn't work: "At that point, he said he was going to kick my ass." He said a punch to Eller's face had no effect and Eller then threw him across the garage.

Porras also was trying to subdue Eller to little effect, Antaya said. The two radioed for backup and kept on fighting but were swatted and pushed down by Eller, who at one point told the officers he was going to kill them, Antaya said.

Eller punched Antaya in the face, knocked him out, twisted his leg extremely hard and bent back his thumb to the point the officer thought it would break, Antaya testified.

When another officer showed up, Eller eventually relented. "I believe he said, 'All right, I'm done' and he just quit fighting," Antaya said.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747