Scandia Man Sentenced for Assaulting Brother in Woodbury

A Scandia man who punched his brother during a June 2012 altercation, causing him to fall and fracture his skull, has been sentenced to two months in jail.

Daniel Michael McLaughlin, 45, was convicted in early December of third-degree assault resulting in substantial bodily harm in connection with the incident.

He was placed on five years’ probation and ordered to serve 60 days in jail. He also must pay $1,261 to the Crime Victims Reparation Fund and may have to pay lost wages to his victim, depending on further medical documentation.

McLaughlin also was ordered to complete an anger management program, find a job and work toward “independent living” within a year.

According to the criminal complaint, Woodbury police were called to a home in the 9000 block of Glacier Bay on June 17, 2012, to investigate a report of an unconscious man who had been assaulted.

Police found McLaughlin still at the home, and found a man lying on the concrete floor of the garage, with his head resting on a cushion. McLaughlin told officers the victim was his brother, and that he had been “confrontational” with him, telling him “how to live his life.”

McLaughlin said he and his brother began to argue, then wrestle, and the wrestling got “out of control,” causing his brother to fall and hit his head.

A witness told police she saw the two men arguing and exchanging punches in the garage. She later said when she heard arguing and the sounds of a fight in the garage, she opened the door and saw McLaughlin standing over his brother, who was on his knees. McLaughlin was raining blows on his brothe, she said.

The woman said she screamed at McLaughlin to stop, and ran to get her cell phone to call the police. While she was inside the house, she heard a thud in the garage, and saw the victim, bloody, lying on the floor. She said McLaughlin said his brother was “fine” and “treated the situation as if it was not a big deal.”

A family member later contacted police and described McLaughlin as a “very violent person” who had been physically aggressive with other family members in the past.

The victim was taken to the hospital and placed in intensive care with an uncontrolled brain hemorrhage. Doctors determined that he had suffered a skull fracture.