Man Beaten, But Certainly Not Defeated

Rocky Banks of Post Falls is one of those guys you enjoy knowing.

It’s not that he’s president of this, a member of that, drives a new car or holds the record for eating the most pizzas.

Maybe it’s his ever-present laugh, his warm smile or his ability to forgive the man who robbed and savagely beat him last June.

Banks, 38, was bidding a job for his employer, Summit Window and Patio Door of Spokane, when he was clubbed on the back of the head with a five-foot section of two-by-four. He was kicked and mauled by his attacker on June 27 - for less than $100 and a credit card.

The force of the blow split the two rear lobes of his brain, leaving him unable to think clearly, reason effectively or communicate. His sense of smell is gone, his memory of the attack is missing and his sense of balance hasn’t completely returned.

He remembers being unable to read, watch television or focus. The constant headaches disrupted his sleep.

“My friends said they couldn’t detect a difference,” he said with his characteristic laugh. “Funny how the guys I work with all said I’d loaned them money on the day before the accident. Gosh, I owe hundreds to hear ‘em talk.”

For 15 years, or until about a year ago, Banks was an active member of the Post Falls Volunteer Fire Department. He worked his way through the ranks from rookie to retire as assistant fire chief.

He saw his share of fires, doing his best to protect and save property of total strangers. He volunteered untold hours.

And yet, it was a total stranger who savagely beat and left him near death at 24th and Bowdish in the Spokane Valley.

“And, you know, I’ve forgiven whoever hit me that day. No, I haven’t forgotten, but have forgiven him. He needs help. I feel sorry for him, really do.”

Banks paused a moment.

“Thinking back, I want to think he was a big, rough football player-type. Not some third-grade girl needing some extra lunch money, Cripe, I was beat up in grade school by a girl. Not again!” he quipped.

Banks said he has no interest in returning to the scene of the attack.

“I took Mary, my wife, back so she could see where it happened. But, never again.

“I’ve considered carrying a gun. But that’s not the answer. I’ll tell you one thing for sure. Since the attack, I’ve become cautious almost to a fault.”

Banks said he never gets in - or out - of a car without first checking his surroundings. For awhile after the beating, he said, he was afraid to go out after dark, even at home.

“You know,” he said, “the accident has sure taught me love and appreciation. I would not have made it without the constant support of Mary.

“Geez, the nights I couldn’t sleep. … The many, many times I’d get angry for no apparent reason. She was always there.”

Banks talks of his 5-year-old son, Christopher, and “the times he would cry because I couldn’t play with him like a ‘real’ dad.”

And of his employer?

“They kept me on the payroll throughout the 5-1/2 months I was off work. They have paid all the bills. They even hired a private investigator; brought him up here over the July Fourth holiday to see if he could solve the whodunit.”

Banks slowly is returning to his life as it was prior to the beating. He still walks slowly and takes a bit more time to think about what was just said.

It may hurt sometimes, but he still can laugh.

xxxx