He’s accused of pointing a gun at her.
Prosecutors charged celebrity chef Justin Sutherland Monday with threatening to commit a crime of violence against his girlfriend in St. Paul.
Sutherland’s girlfriend later told police that during an argument on Friday, he “grabbed her neck with both hands and squeezed for approximately five to six seconds,” according to a criminal complaint charging Sutherland with one felony. “While strangling her, Sutherland said, ‘I could kill you.’”
She called her sister and Sutherland ripped the phone from her hand and broke it on the counter, so the woman ran to a neighbor’s house to use the phone, the complaint said. When she walked back to the house, Sutherland was standing in the backdoor with a handgun pointed at her, made a comment about her “talking to their racist neighbors” and said, “Take two more steps. I dare you,” the complaint continued.
The woman said she slowly walked toward Sutherland because he still had the gun pointed at her, and he told her, “I’m not kidding. I’ll shoot you. This is my property,” according to the complaint. The woman said she knocked the gun from Sutherland’s hand and Sutherland’s friend came in the room, so she locked herself in the bathroom.
Police arrested Sutherland and an investigator went to talk to him at the Ramsey County jail. He asked what he was being charged with. He was told he was being held on threats of violence and assault. “Sutherland said that was a lie and requested a lawyer,” the complaint said.
Sutherland is scheduled to make his first court appearance in the case on Monday morning. An attorney for him wasn’t immediately listed in the court file.
The St. Paul chef has been featured on “Iron Chef,” “Fast Foodies,” “Top Chef,” “Taste the Culture” and a judge on several other food-focused TV shows and talk shows such as “Good Morning America.” He is a Food Network “Iron Chef” winner and season finalist on “Top Chef.” He also is the author of a cookbook, “Northern Soul,” and won an Emmy for “Taste the Culture.”
He opened his first restaurant, Handsome Hog, in St. Paul’s Lowertown. Sutherland is no longer affiliated with that restaurant but owns Big E, an egg sandwich shop on Grand Avenue.
Earlier this year, he announced he was going to help reopen the beloved Rondo community restaurant Golden Thyme Coffee and Cafe. Sutherland and his dad, Kerry Sutherland, are partnering with the nonprofit Rondo Community Land Trust to open the restaurant.
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