In brief: Argument over sexuality led to stabbing, police say
A knife attack that nearly killed a man early Saturday began after the victim described himself as gay, according to Spokane police.
The 28-year-old victim was drinking with a friend at a home in the 400 block of South Fiske Street when a man approached them on the porch and began talking. The victim said he was gay, “and an argument ensued about him being gay,” according to court documents.
The victim said the man, identified by police as Jesse D. Bell, 21, calmed down, and they talked for about 45 minutes, but Bell again got angry and a fight ensued.
Bell walked away, and the man realized he’d been stabbed and his friend was cut on her hand. Another man also suffered a small stab wound.
Police contacted Bell, and he told them he’d told the man he would stab him if he did not get off of him as they were fighting. He said he thought he stabbed the man once but was unaware he’d stabbed anyone else.
Bell was arrested on a first-degree assault charge. He remains in jail on $100,000 bond after appearing in Spokane County Superior Court on Monday.
The victim was treated for stab wounds to his torso, back and arm, including one that punctured his right lung. His heart stopped beating at the hospital, but emergency room staff revived him.
Woman arrested in pepper-spray assault
A woman apparently upset over an elderly couple’s driving habits pepper sprayed a disabled 72-year-old woman at a north Spokane Home Depot on Sunday, authorities said.
The couple were visiting Home Depot on Newport Highway about 4 p.m. The driver, an 82-year-old man, stopped his car in front of the store to wait for pedestrians and to let his disabled wife get out of the car, a news release from the Spokane Police Department said.
Sherri L. Schlosser, 49, reportedly was upset they stopped at the side of the driving lane. She drove past them in her car screaming at them and nearly hit the couple’s open car door, police said. She then parked and approached them angrily, screaming profanities at them. She continued to harass them as they walked into the store, then pulled out a can of pepper spray from her purse and sprayed the woman in the face, the release said.
She then ran into Home Depot, through the store and out a different set of doors before speeding out of the parking lot while witnesses attempted to stop her. The victim was treated by fire crews before going home.
Officer Stephanie Kennedy investigated the assault and found Schlosser at her home, where she was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of assault.
Stolen car recovered before owner misses it
A car was recovered minutes after it was stolen when the alleged thief’s friend turned him in.
The 73-year-old victim, Robert B. Renz, parked his 2006 BMW at 8121 N. Division St. before exercising at the North Park Athletic Club on Friday.
Renz secured his wallet and keys in a locker, but someone opened the locker and stole them, then stole his BMW with a loaded Smith and Wesson .357 revolver inside, according to court documents.
Before he even noticed his car missing, Renz was informed by the front desk that a man called and said he knew where the stolen BMW was.
That man told police his friend Matthew J. Gillette, 23, called him looking to sell the luxury import car.
Police booked Gillette into jail on charges of theft of a motor vehicle, theft of a firearm, second-degree theft, trafficking in stolen property and unlawful possession of a firearm. Gillette has felony drug and forgery convictions that prohibit him from possessing firearms.
ATV driver dies after hitting cable over road
A Newport man was killed Sunday when he hit a cable above the road while riding an ATV on private property.
Jack Roy Dalton, 38, was riding his 2007 Suzuki ATV around 9:40 p.m. on Coyote Trail Road about nine miles north of Newport.
He died at the scene after hitting the cable, a news release from the Washington State Patrol said.
He was not wearing a helmet, and investigators believe alcohol was a factor, the release said.
Tips sought on theft of music equipment
About $5,000 in equipment was stolen from a downtown cafe and concert house last weekend.
The thief climbed in an open but barred window in the back courtyard of the Village Cafe and Concert House., 171 S. Washington St., and stole recoding equipment, guitars, appliances, an air conditioner and power tools, said owner Doug LaPlante.
LaPlante is remodeling the building with a couple of friends and said the bars on the window were so narrow he didn’t think anyone could fit through. Apparently he was wrong, and the window has since been boarded up.
“In the last 30 years I don’t ever remember it being broken into,” LaPlante said. He recalled playing there in the 1990s. He’s leased the space for about a year. It serves as a fundraising spot for LaPlante’s nonprofit group, the Village Experience, which provides free music lessons, instruments and recording access to children.
A fundraiser is planned for Aug. 31 at Ugly Bettie’s, 211 N. Division St.
Anyone with information on the burglary is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.
31-month sentence in fatal January hit-run
A 21-year-old woman who drove away after fatally striking a Spokane pedestrian earlier this year has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Hannah K. Hahn is to serve 31 months behind bars with credit for 180 days served. She pleaded guilty Friday to vehicular homicide for a crash in January that killed Dennis Burgess, 47.
Police say Hahn smelled of alcohol and had “some small bottles of alcohol” on her when they stopped a 1999 Dodge Durango as it sped north on Market Street near Hawthorne Road about 2:17 a.m. Jan. 28.
Hahn told them she thought she had hit someone with her car. The SUV’s windshield was broken, and its front end and hood were damaged.
Police found Burgess unconscious in the street near Providence Avenue and Market with severe head trauma. He was pronounced dead at a hospital. He was a father of three and worked as a carpenter and landscaper.
In addition to 31 months in prison, Hahn is to pay $4,362 restitution.