Father Charged With Attempted First-Degree Murder Man Accused Of Throwing Children From Third-Story Apartment Window

A father was charged Wednesday with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, accused of throwing his two toddlers out a thirdfloor apartment window when police arrived during a domestic dispute.

Walter White Jr., 28, pleaded innocent to those charges and to a charge of fourth-degree assault alleging he struck his wife, Sabrina, 21.

Bail was set at $500,000, Deputy Prosecutor W. Stephen Gregorich said after the proceeding. A pretrial conference was scheduled for Feb. 11 to set a trial date and address any pretrial motions.

“I’m glad we’re only dealing with attempted murder,” Gregorich said.

The couple’s two children - 2-year-old Semaj and 1-year-old Si-Rell - were taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital after Tuesday’s falls.

Semaj remained in critical condition Wednesday with head and internal injuries, but was expected to make a full recovery, hospital spokesman Todd Kelley said.

Her brother was released Wednesday after treatment for scrapes and bruises, Kelley said.

“The little boy is doing miraculously well,” Dr. Gary Park said Tuesday. “His sister is not so fortunate, but she is doing remarkably better than I ever would have expected.”

When police responded to a disconnected 911 call from the apartment early Tuesday, Sabrina White told them her husband had tried to kill her with a hammer.

Walter White fled to a bedroom and closed the door. He came back out, after a delay, when officers ordered him to.

An officer then went into the bedroom and noticed a screen had been removed from a window. When he looked outside, he saw the children on the pavement below.

A witness outside said he heard police ordering the defendant from the room - an order that drew his attention to the third-floor bedroom window.

“He then saw what, at first, he believed to be a trash bag flying out the window,” said court papers filed by Gregorich. “As he watched, he noted this to be a child. The child bounced off the hood of a car and onto the pavement.”

As the witness came forward to help, “he saw another child come flying out of the window. … He described the flight of both children as being thrown not dropped.”

Police measured the distance from the window to the hood of the car at 23 feet, 8 inches, prosecutors said.

Tuesday’s argument apparently began when Walter White gave Semaj and Si-Rell beer to drink, The Seattle Times reported.