Man Pleads Innocent In Assault Case Driver Accused Of Attacking One Passenger, Running Over Second

A Keller motorist pleaded innocent this week to a charge that he attacked a passenger in his car with a knife and gun, and then ran over a second passenger as she fled while the car was stopped at an intersection.

Delbert C. Richmond, 45, remained in the Ferry County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail. He faces trial March 11 on two counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and one count of hit-and-run driving.

Prosecutor Al Nielson said in Superior Court documents that Richmond took fellow Keller residents Earl Bearde, 51, and Mary Highrock, 48, to Republic Jan. 12 to buy a box of meat. Nielson said the three are relatives, but he doesn’t know their relationship.

On the way home, the prosecutor said, Bearde and Highrock asked Richmond for his agreed share of the purchase price and he became angry. Richmond allegedly struck Bearde, who was in the front passenger seat, twice in the head with his fist. He also put a knife to Bearde’s throat and twice put a pistol to his head, Nielson said.

With the car stopped at an intersection just south of Republic, Richmond then shot out the front passenger-side window of his car. Bearde and Highrock said they were afraid and got out of the car, but Highrock slipped on ice and Richmond drove over her left leg as he fled.

A sheriff’s deputy found Richmond hiding between two vehicles near his home at Keller two hours after the incident. Tests showed Richmond’s blood-alcohol level at 0.122 percent to 0.129 percent more than four hours after the alleged assault, the prosecutor stated.

Richmond told officers he struck Bearde because he thought he was about to be robbed.

Neither of the victims wants Richmond to be prosecuted, Nielson said.

, DataTimes