Officer Stabbed At Group Home

A man with a history of mental problems stabbed a Spokane police officer Monday night during a struggle at a West Central neighborhood group home.

Police said the unnamed officer was in serious condition at Deaconess Medical Center with stab wounds to his left shoulder and arm.

The officer was responding to a 6:40 p.m. report of an out-of-control man at Summit Manor, a group home for mentally ill people at 3110 W. Boone.

Neighbors said the situation didn’t seem all that unusual - at first.

“We see ambulances pull in and out of there at least once a month,” said Karl Meister, who lives across the street.

The scene changed quickly. Minutes after he arrived, the officer pressed his panic button. More than a dozen patrol cars and fire trucks rushed to the scene, filling the street in front of the home.

The officer was taken away by ambulance. His alleged attacker, Rocklin Lerwick, 53, was booked into the Spokane County Jail on a first-degree assault charge.

Group home residents were loaded on an out-of-service Spokane Transit Authority bus and taken to another location. “They were in the middle of a crime scene,” said police Lt. Al Odenthal.

No other injuries were reported.

, DataTimes