Charges Rejected In Stabbing Judge Cites Lack Of Authority In Buchanan Complaint

A Spokane Valley teenager has failed in his latest attempt to have charges filed against a woman who stabbed him in 1996.

Tim Buchanan Jr. and his parents filed a “citizens complaint” in December, asking a District Court judge to decide that there is sufficient reason to file criminal charges against Karen Beeman.

The Buchanans wanted Beeman charged with assault, reckless endangerment, obstructing a law enforcement officer and making false statements to authorities.

Judge Daniel Maggs said Wednesday he is denying the request.

Maggs ruled that only police could bring charges of obstructing justice and making false statements. Regarding the assault and endangerment charges, he wrote, “I could find no evidence … that would negate Karen Beeman’s claim of self-defense and/or defense of another.”

Beeman stabbed Buchanan at least three times during a brawl at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds on Sept. 7, 1996. She claimed she was protecting her teenage son, Tristan Beeman, who was fighting with Buchanan.

Buchanan and some civil rights groups claimed the attack was malicious and racially motivated, and should be prosecuted as an assault. Buchanan is black; Karen Beeman is fair-skinned and claims Samoan ancestry.

Five deputy prosecutors who reviewed a police report decided there was little evidence of a crime. It’s not up to defendants to prove they acted in self-defense, Maggs noted; rather, prosecutors must prove that violence wasn’t necessary.

The Sheriff’s Department reopened the case in 1996, then closed it again. The FBI has not completed its investigation into whether Beeman should be prosecuted under federal law for violating Buchanan’s civil rights.

Investigators described the 1996 fight as “a near riot” with close to 100 people involved. Most were students from East Valley and University high schools, where Tristan Beeman, EV, and Buchanan, U-Hi, were students.

There was a brief scuffle earlier in the night, when groups including Beeman and Buchanan met inside the fairgrounds. The bigger fight occurred in the parking lot.

Karen Beeman told investigators that Buchanan hit her hard enough to knock her to the ground when she tried to pull him off her son. Buchanan hit her a second time when she sprayed him with Mace, she said. After that, she stabbed him in the back.

Both Buchanan and Tristan Beeman were standout athletes in high school. Buchanan contends the knife wounds he suffered at the fairgrounds ended his hopes of obtaining a football scholarship.

Maggs noted that Buchanan could still file a lawsuit against Karen Beeman.

Both Tristan Beeman and Buchanan have been arrested since their fairgrounds fight.

Beeman and two friends are charged with robbing a man of $40 and a few ounces of methamphetamine.

Buchanan was arrested in connection with a North Side shooting in February 1997. Buchanan, whose arrest did not lead to charges, was in a car with a man who allegedly fired two shots at another car.

, DataTimes