Man, 45, held in death of transient beneath I-90

A 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder in the beating death Saturday of a man who was living under a freeway overpass in downtown Spokane.

Wayne Walksnice Jr. was booked into jail Wednesday, where he is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail until Friday. If formal charges aren’t filed by then, he’ll be released.

Walksnice picked up Ernest Hamlin and slammed him onto the ground while trying to get Hamlin to hand over his beer, according to a police affidavit filed in Spokane County District Court to show grounds for holding Walksnice temporarily.

Hamlin was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center about 11 a.m. Saturday in critical condition with a head injury. He died about 2 p.m.

Hamlin was living underneath Interstate 90, at Fourth Avenue and Division Street, when he was assaulted, according to police. A female transient had flagged down a firefighter to report Hamlin had been injured.

Another transient who was living at that location told police he saw Walksnice throw Hamlin down without provocation.

The police affidavit says Detective Tim Madsen found Walksnice on Wednesday at a trash bin next to the Briggs Apartments downtown. Madsen said Walksnice stated that he pushed Hamlin in the chest, knocking him onto his buttocks, when Hamlin attacked him Friday with two knives.

Walksnice claimed he walked away with his girlfriend, Marci Michael, who told him she saw another man kicking and hitting Hamlin as Walksnice and Michael were leaving.

The court document says two other witnesses told police that Walksnice said Hamlin attacked him with a knife.