Charges: Man climbed aboard train and stabbed engineer near St. Cloud

SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. – A Sauk Rapids man faces more than a decade in prison after he allegedly hopped aboard a freight train and attacked the engineer with a knife Tuesday morning.

Police say it happened at about 8:18 a.m. in Sauk Rapids on Benton Drive at 1st Avenue North. Police say 40-year-old Samuel David Holman climbed into the cab of a Santa Fe Burlington Northern train that had just left St. Cloud, pulling a rock train behind it.

The train's engineer told police Holman "wrapped his arms around his neck" and told him to "speed up and get out of town."

The engineer said Holman then pulled a "fairly dull and rusty" folding knife out of his bag and tried to stab him. The two men began to struggle, with Holman allegedly stabbing the engineer in the forehead.

The engineer eventually bit Holman's hand and pushed him away before leaping off the moving train. He was taken to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment.

Officers caught Holman about two miles away in Sartell, where the train came to a stop. Dried blood was visible on his pants, and a knife was recovered nearby.

Police say Holman's hand was bleeding, and he "made comments about smashing the inside of the train." Investigators also discovered multiple wires in the train's cab had been cut.

Holman was charged Wednesday in Benton County with a count each of second-degree assault and first-degree criminal damage to property. His bail hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning.