Man faces charges for pulling gun on teens

A Spokane man, fed up with neighborhood vandalism, alledgedly took matters into his own hands when he caught some teenagers tampering with a newspaper delivery box.

Dannie Joe Roske is accused of pulling a gun on the alleged vandals, and now he could be looking at second-degree assault charges.

Roske, 39, forced the teens to lie on their stomachs in the 8600 block of North Pamela Drive until police arrived shortly after midnight last Sunday, Spokane police Detective John Miller said in an application for a warrant to seize Roske’s 9 mm semiautomatic pistol.

The teenagers included two 13-year-old girls, a 15-year-old boy and his girlfriend, whose age wasn’t listed in Miller’s affidavit.

The teens told police they had been walking along Pamela Drive when the two 13-year-old girls attempted to push over a Spokesman-Review newspaper delivery box. The boy told the girls, one of whom was his sister, to stop, and they did, according to the teens.

As they were starting to move on, the teenagers told police, a man ran up and ordered them to stop at gunpoint. They said two other 13-year-old girls in their original group of six ran off. The four who remained said the man – later identified as Roske – pointed his pistol at the 15-year-old boy.

The boy said he offered Roske his cell phone so Roske could call the boy’s mother, but Roske said he intended to call police instead. Miller said in his affidavit that Roske ordered the four teens to lie on their stomachs.

The boy said they complied, and he held out his hand to his girlfriend who was crying, along with the two younger girls.

At that point, the boy told police, Roske straddled him and aimed the gun at the back of his head from a distance of one foot. Roske ordered the boy not to move, according to Miller’s affidavit.

Miller said the boy’s mother came and told Roske to put away his gun. The woman continued to confront Roske, and other neighbors had approached by the time police officers arrived, Miller said.

The detective said he checked the newspaper box and found it had been swiveled a bit.

Miller said he twisted the box back into place, and homeowner Mark Pupura agreed there was no damage.

Roske said he confronted the children with his gun because there had been vandalism in the neighborhood, but Roske never said any of the teenagers threatened him, Miller said.

State law allows people to use deadly force to defend themselves or others from imminent harm.

It doesn’t authorize deadly force to defend property.

Miller said in his search warrant affidavit that he intends to ask the Spokane County prosecutor’s office to charge Roske with second-degree assault.