A nurse who was tubing on western Wisconsin’s Apple River and found Isaac Schuman with a stab wound described on Thursday how she and others tried to save the Stillwater teen from dying.

A photo of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman is displayed in front of the jury during the Nicolae Miu trial at the St. Croix County District Court in Hudson, Wis., on Monday, April 1, 2024. Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, is accused of murdering Schuman and wounding four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Elizabeth Flores, Pool via Star Tribune)

Andrea Baldazo, a registered nurse from Forest Lake, was among the first to testify on the fourth day of the St. Croix County Circuit Court trial of Nicolae Miu, who is charged with fatally stabbing the 17-year-old Schuman and injuring four others during a river confrontation with tubers in Somerset on July 30, 2022.

After realizing Schuman was injured and in need of help near the water’s edge, Baldazo got off her tube and “Army crawled” through the shallow water, she said. Schuman’s eyes were open, but not blinking. He was not breathing.

“I started chest compressions right away and continued that for a long time,” Baldazo said, recalling that she and others took turns giving CPR, singing the children’s song “Baby Shark” to keep a steady rhythm.

Miu stabbed Schuman in the chest with great force, cutting through two ribs and slicing his heart, prosecutors said Monday. He died almost immediately.

Baldazo’s testimony was part of the prosecution’s shift Thursday from witness accounts of the violent encounter to the response, including law enforcement’s arrival at the scene and Miu’s arrest at Village Park about a mile downstream an hour later.

Prosecutors called Somerset police officers and several sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene. Clips from their body-worn camera videos were played to the jury.

Miu, 54, of Prior Lake, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in Schuman’s death and attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the stabbings of Rhyley Mattison, then 24, of Burnsville; A.J. Martin, then 22, of Elk River; and brothers Dante Carlson and Tony Carlson, who were both in their early 20s and from Luck, Wis.

Miu claimed he acted in self-defense after being attacked by a large group of angry and intoxicated tubers who accused him of being a “pedophile” while he was looking for a lost cellphone and carrying a snorkel and goggles. Miu’s attorney, Aaron Nelson, told jurors during Monday’s opening statement that he was “outnumbered” and “feared for his life.”

St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson told Judge R. Michael Waterman on Thursday that the state expects to rest its case Monday or Tuesday. The trial in Hudson will then shift to defense attorneys’ witnesses. It’s unclear whether Miu will testify.

Confrontation

Janell Duxbury, who was the first to testify Thursday, said she was napping while floating on the river with a group that included Madison Coen, the Carlsons and Mattison. Duxbury said she was awakened by Mattison telling her, “Hey, let’s go check it out.”

Witness Janell Duxbury is asked about the size of the blade during questioning at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, is accused of murdering 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and wounding four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Elizabeth Flores / Pool via Star Tribune)

Duxbury said she heard Coen yelling at Miu, then the right side of Coen’s face turn toward her “and she kind of stumbled down and got back up and then walked away.”

“Did you see Mr. Miu’s hand or fist make contact with Maddie’s face?” Deputy District Attorney Brian Smestad asked Duxbury.

“I did not see it make contact, no,” she said.

Duxbury said she saw “a lot of chaos and yelling” and then Dante Carlson run up to Miu and punch him while yelling, “Never hit a woman!” Miu punched him back, then stabbed Mattison.

“I thought it was like a little punch towards her ribs, until he had removed his hand,” Duxbury said. “I saw the knife come out of my friend’s side.”

In cross-examination, Miu’s attorney Corey Chirafisi asked whether she had said in her interview with law enforcement that her group approached Miu to “build a wall.” She said she did.

Duxbury said that Coen, before she was punched, was in Miu’s face and yelling and swearing at him to go away.

Miu was not being aggressive toward Mattison before the stabbing, Duxbury said. She described Miu as being “very expressionless, hollow, almost like a demonic look in his face. I don’t know how else to describe it other than his eyes did not look human.”

Upon further questioning by Chirafisi, Duxbury said there were approximately 13 people around Miu at the time.

Miu’s arrest

Sgt. Chase Durand, with the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Department, takes the stand during the fourth day of the Nicolae Miu trial at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Nicolae Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, is accused of murdering 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and wounding four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Elizabeth Flores / Pool via Star Tribune)

The testimony then turned to law enforcement and body-camera video.

St. Croix County sheriff’s Sgt. Chase Durand said that when he arrived on scene he saw two stabbing victims: a man, who was up and walking, and a woman lying on an inner tube in the river.

Prosecution played clip of Durands’ body-cam video, which turned on as he entered the water. He approached a group of three people who were helping Martin, who had been stabbed in the stomach. “We’re here for you,” a woman told Martin as she gripped his right hand.

Durand asked a man standing in the river if had information about the suspect. He told the deputy the suspect is “5-9, 5-10, a Russian-looking guy.” Another bystander said the suspect was in his 50s or 60s. Durand relayed the information over his radio.

St. Croix County Deputy Benjamin Trebian takes the stand during the fourth day of the Nicolae Miu trial at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Nicolae Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, is accused of murdering 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and wounding four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Elizabeth Flores / Pool via Star Tribune)

Deputy Benjamin Trebian’s body-cam video then gave jurors a look at Miu’s arrest. A deputy is seen placing handcuffs on Miu, who is wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap, swim trunks and a long-sleeve camouflage shirt. He tells Miu that he is “just being detained at this point, OK?” “Yes,” Miu replied.

Trebian noted markings on Miu’s hands, and testified that he took photos for potential evidence.

In cross-examination, Nelson asked Trebian if the marks on Miu’s hands could have been from falling into a river and hitting rocks or the river bottom. “Potentially,” the deputy said.

Upon questioning, Trebian said he did not notice any signs that Miu had been drinking alcohol.

In redirect examination by Smestad, Trebian said that Miu did not approach law enforcement officers before his arrest. He appeared to be in a “trance-like state, almost,” the deputy said.

Nelson then asked Trebian during re-cross examination whether victims of violent crime can express a “trance-like state.” “Potentially, yes,” the deputy said.

The prosecution also played a body-cam clip in which sheriff’s Lt. Mitch Thomason told Miu, while in the back of a squad car, that he was “being arrested for homicide and attempted homicide.”

According to the criminal complaint against Miu, he told sheriff’s Lt. Brandie Hart later in his formal interview that he did not know what happened to the people who confronted him.

“I told Nic that four individuals sustained injuries and one person died,” Hart wrote in the complaint. “Nic said, ‘Oh no’ and asked if the individuals sustained injuries because they were fighting with each other.”

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Byron Buxton didn’t play a single major league inning in center field last year, so it’s not so surprising that the Twins are still in the early stages of figuring out what his workload in the outfield will look like this season.

Mostly, they’re reacting to how he’s feeling.

“Absolutely,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I’d be lying if I said any different.”

Through the team’s first six games, Buxton has been in center in four of them. He’s had two days at designated hitter — the role he held last season. The Twins have also had a pair of off days since the regular season began March 28.

The plan for now, Baldelli said, is to just play it day by day.

“If he does need a DH day or not even need a DH day — if it just makes sense to give him a DH day in order to keep him back on the field the following day, then we do that,” Baldelli said.

Buxton was limited to just hitting last year because of a right knee that has twice been surgically repaired. But the knee, by all accounts, has been feeling much better this year, allowing him to go back into the outfield — even if the Twins are monitoring his usage there.

“I think we’ll fall into some sort of rotation where we’ll see him in the field, we’ll see him DHing, maybe play a couple days in a row in the field, then see him DHing again,” Baldelli said. “I think we could see something like that, but it’s all going to have to do with how he comes out of the games. And what he had to do in the game.”

Twins dedicate television booth

Minnesota Twins broadcaster Dick Bremer, right, is hugged by former Twins player Joe Mauer after Bremer threw the ceremonial first pitch to start the Twins home opener against the Cleveland Guardians at Target Field in Minneapolis on Thursday, April 4, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Dick Bremer pulled the red covering off the plaque outside the home television booth at Target Field, and with that, the area was renamed after the man who had spent so many hours calling that booth home.

The Twins honored Bremer’s 40-year career as their television play-by-play announcer ahead of their home opener, starting with the dedication of the Dick Bremer TV Booth. Later in the day, after the Twins played a highlight video celebrating him, he gave his traditional left-handed toast and threw out a ceremonial first pitch to Joe Mauer, whose whole career Bremer witnessed and called from the booth.

Bremer stepped down after last season and is now a special assistant in the Twins front office.

It was an emotional day for Bremer, whose wife and two children were with him, as well as four people from his hometown of Dumont, Minn., including his elementary school teacher.

“Somebody asked me the other day about the 40 years, and it’s true for I think anybody who is lucky enough to love what they do professionally, whatever the profession is. You do 40 years and the time goes by like that,” Bremer said, with a snap of the fingers. “I can remember that first game in 1983 like it was the first game of 2023, and so I’ve really been blessed.”

Briefly

The Twins will have Friday off before returning to play the Guardians on Saturday. Joe Ryan will take the ball, opposed by Carlos Carrasco. … Alex Kirilloff, who tripled on both Wednesday and Thursday, doubled the number of triples he had hit in his entire career. He is the first Twin to hit a triple in back-to-back games since Buxton in June 2022.

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A bull elephant charged a truck that a 79-year-old Twin Cities woman was riding in with other tourists on a game drive in a Zambian national park, flipping over the vehicle and killing her, a safari company said.

Family and friends identified the victim to Twin Cities media as Minnetonka resident Gail Mattson, who also had a home in Arizona.

The attack injured five others on March 30 in the vast Kafue National Park, which covers 8,600 square miles and is one of Africa’s largest animal reserves.

According to the safari company Wilderness, the “aggressive” bull elephant unexpectedly charged at the truck, which was carrying six guests and a guide on a morning excursion through wild areas.

It wasn’t clear what upset the bull. But in a video widely circulated online, the pachyderm is seen menacingly charging through the bushy terrain toward the tourists’ vehicle. A man is heard shouting “hey hey hey,” in apparent but futile efforts to scare it away. It reaches the truck and flips it over using its trunk.

Another female tourist was seriously injured and flown by helicopter to South Africa for treatment while the rest were treated for minor injuries, the company said.

“This is a devastating incident for everyone involved and we are doing our best to support the family and all affected,” Tarryn Gibson, the safari company’s head of communications told the Associated Press on Thursday. Gibson did not identify the tourist who was killed, citing privacy concerns. The company also asked people to not share the video of the attack online.

While many wildlife parks in southern Africa teem with dangerous animals like elephants and lions, such incidents are rare, although they sometimes do occur with fatal consequences due to the unpredictability of wild animals.

Keith Vincent, chief executive officer of the safari company, said rough terrain minimized chances of an escape.

“Our guides are all extremely well trained and experienced, but sadly in this instance the terrain and vegetation was such that the guide’s route became blocked and he could not move the vehicle out of harm’s way quickly enough” he said.

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