Man accused of stabbings was shot in July

A man accused of slashing another man’s throat outside of a Hillyard tavern has been tied to a July shooting at the Spokane River’s Boulder Beach swimming area.

Donald L. Dyson, 41, is being held on a $100,000 bond for the ear-to-ear knife slashing, and $75,000 bond on charges he stabbed a different man in the face and hand during the same fight.

The report indicates that Dyson was shot in the leg during the Boulder Beach fight. He had been taken to Holy Family Hospital, but refused to tell officers what happened “but made reference to the shooting being retaliatory,” Spokane police Detective Jerry Hensley wrote in his report.

According to court records, Odell Champion told Spokane police officers that Dyson approached him after 2 a.m. Saturday outside of the Special K tavern, at 3817 N. Market St., and tried to sell him marijuana.

Champion’s friend, Eugene “Low Key” McKay, approached Dyson from behind and noticed Dyson was holding a knife behind his back.

“Champion, now in fear for his safety, told Dyson to put the knife away and challenged him to fight without weapons,” Hensley wrote. Another man tried to break up the fight and directed Champion’s attention away from Dyson.

“Before he could turn back toward Dyson, he felt Dyson’s left hand on his head,” Hensley wrote. “Without hesitation, Dyson slashed at Champion’s throat while holding his head still. The slashing motion cut Champion’s throat from just below his left ear to near his right ear.”

The other first-degree assault charge stemmed from a different victim who suffered a cut on his face and hand when he tried to intervene in what appears to be a separate argument involving Dyson.

Officers found Dyson walking south along on Market Street following the fights. They ordered him at gunpoint to stop and saw where he threw a folding knife – which had dried blood on it – into the weeds where it was retrieved.

“The defendant admitted to cutting a male once after being punched twice,” Hensley wrote. Dyson also said “that if he cut a second person, it was probably an accident.”