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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

New Year’s stabbing victim’s condition upgraded

Taryn Brodwater Staff writer

A 26-year-old man who had his throat slashed on New Year’s Day outside a Clark Fork bar has been upgraded from critical to satisfactory condition at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

On Monday, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office arrested 45-year-old Kenneth D. Rawley at his home near Sandpoint. He is being held in the Bonner County Jail on charges of aggravated assault, Sheriff’s Lt. John Valdez said Wednesday. Bond has been set at $100,000.

Valdez said the department isn’t yet releasing information on the events leading to the early morning assault that left Blaine B. Stevens critically wounded.

He said both men were partying at the Out of Bounds Tavern and “for some reason” the two men got into a shoving match.

Other patrons at the bar pulled the two men apart, Valdez said, and believed they had broken up the fight. Rawley reportedly took one last swing, knocking Stevens to the ground.

“When he went down, everyone was trying to help him up,” Valdez said. “They noticed they were covered in blood. His throat was slashed.”

Rawley fled the scene of the crime, and about two days later, Valdez said, he was arrested without incident at his Wrenco Loop home.

The weapon, which Valdez said is likely a knife or “some type of cutting instrument,” hasn’t been found.

Following the attack, Stevens was airlifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Valdez said the injury caused Stevens to lose a lot of blood.

“They lost him twice in the ambulance, is my understanding,” Valdez said. “He’s very lucky to be alive.”