Man who fell at Mall of America faced rape charge

Published 12:50 pm Friday, March 26, 2010

A man who fell to his death in the Mall of America Rotunda was scheduled to face a rape charge in a New York court on the day of his death.

Authorities say 21-year-old Dakota Rey Kohler-Lander of Schenectady, N.Y., was on the fourth floor of the Mall of America Wednesday with a knife. When officers approached him, he climbed over a railing and fell to the ground floor. He died of blunt force injuries.

The Star Tribune reports Kohler-Lander was arrested last October and charged with rape for allegedly having consensual sex with a 16-year-old girl. Officials say he was indicted by an Albany County grand jury last week and was scheduled to appear in court, but didn’t show.

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Local news reports also say Kohler-Lander’s twin 17-year-old brothers died in an all terrain vehicle crash in June.