Newport Official Loses In Bid To Turn Protection Order Table Spokane Deputy Prosecutor And Wife Got Anti-Harassment Order Against Him In January

Newport municipal building inspector Robert “Bubba” Hedricks failed Monday to win a protection order he hoped would clear his name from allegations that he associates with Hells Angels.

Hedricks, 43, sought the order against David Hearrean, a Spokane County deputy prosecutor, and his wife, Carol, to offset an anti-harassment order the Hearreans got against him.

The Hearreans claimed Hedricks harassed them because David Hearrean, 47, prosecuted Spokane Hells Angel Timothy Myers last April for allegedly murdering a member of a rival motorcycle gang.

Among other charges, Carol Hearrean, 37, said Hedricks attempted to run her off the road with his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Hedricks has a good reputation among co-workers and supervisors, and believes Carol Hearrean singled him out because he rides a Harley and has a long, braided ponytail.

A Spokane County sheriff’s investigation concluded that highway encounters between Hearrean and Hedricks probably were coincidental because they both live in southern Pend Oreille County and regularly travel U.S. Highway 2.

Pend Oreille County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Baker said she thought there might have been some misunderstanding when she granted a restraining order against Hedricks in January. But she was less inclined to believe that Monday after hearing Hedricks’ request for his own restraining order.

Baker cited Hedricks’ admission Monday that he knew who the Hearreans were even though he claimed not to at the time of a January incident that triggered the restraining order against him.

Hedricks and the Hearreans both attended a Jan. 17 retirement party for Newport City Administrator Jack Henderson. Hedricks was one of the featured speakers, and Carol Hearrean is chairman of the Pend Oreille County Democratic Party.

Hearrean said she recognized Hedricks as the person she believes harassed her on Highway 2 in April and June 1996. She and her husband testified Monday that they turned frequently to see where Hedricks was during the retirement party because they were afraid of him.

Hedricks said he noticed the couple staring at him and asked someone who they were.

Later, as the party at a Diamond Lake resort was breaking up, Hedricks and the Hearreans met in the resort’s cramped bar. He was having a drink while the Hearreans were attempting to pay their bill.

David Hearrean said Hedricks deliberately bumped him in an attempt to provoke a confrontation. Hedricks said he had been drinking and may have “brushed” Hearrean by accident.

The Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Department declined to charge Hedricks in that incident.

Carol Hearrean said she “just lost it” when her husband tried to hurry her out of the bar and she turned around and saw Hedricks behind her. She said she shouted a sexual obscenity at him three times.

Everyone agreed that Hedricks remained calm, asking people around them who she was and claiming not to know her.

Hedricks admitted on cross-examination that he knew who Hearrean was when she screamed at him in the bar.

That admission didn’t sit well with the judge. Baker said Hedricks “tried to play a game with it and make it look like she was a crazy person.”

The judge also said Carol Hearrean’s testimony “impressed me as being truthful and accurate.” If Hearrean misinterpreted Hedricks’ earlier actions on Highway 2, “it certainly was not knowing or willful” and did not constitute harassment of Hedricks, Baker said.

Hearrean said she was driving north on Highway 2 last April on the first day of the Hells Angel trial when two motorcycles pulled out from Mac’s Tavern in Colbert and followed her to a grocery store at Riverside. She said one of the riders wore Hells Angels “colors” and the other one, whom she identified as Hedricks, had no gang clothing.

She said she was “terrified” when the bikers followed her into the store and Hedricks stared at her down the cereal aisle. She said an acquaintance, whom she approached in the store for help, also identified Hedricks.

Hearrean said she wrote down Hedricks’ license number in the parking lot, but couldn’t see the other cyclist’s plate because he parked on the other side of her vehicle.

Hedricks said he probably stopped for some beer, but was alone and didn’t stare at her. He said he didn’t find out about the allegation until two months later, when a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy questioned him about a second incident in which Carol Hearrean said he attempted to force her off the road.

Hedricks said he remembers only being annoyed that a vehicle pulled in front of him and slowed down. He said he passed the vehicle, but the driver sped up and tailgated him.

Hearrean acknowledged that she had a pistol on her lap at the time and was prepared to shoot the rider.

“I think she’s very dangerous,” Hedricks said.

Hearrean said she was armed because of a series of bomb threats and intimidating encounters that sent her family into hiding during the Myers murder trial. Myers was acquitted, but one of four gang members accused of harassing the Hearreans at a downtown nightclub later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct.

Hedricks, who was not involved in that incident, said he has never ridden with a Hells Angel and has no association with motorcycle gangs.

David Hearrean testified that he knew Hedricks is not a member of the gang because he knows the entire half-dozen Hells Angels in Eastern Washington. But he said he could not rule out the possibility that Hedricks is part of the “food chain” of Hells Angels supporters.

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