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

STA Plaza suspect faces more charges

Police filed additional charges Friday of rape and kidnapping against a man accused of threatening to kill a woman and her baby at the Spokane Transit Authority Plaza downtown.

Police say Tedzo C. Baker held two people against their will at a home on the 6000 block of South Napa Street on Sunday night, beat up a male victim and raped a female victim.

The victims told police Baker held the male victim down, threatened him with a knife and punched him in the face before forcing him to stand outside. He then struggled to remove the woman’s clothes and allegedly raped her, police said.

Baker would not let either victim leave and blocked the door, the home’s only exit, with knives all night, according to Spokane County Superior Court documents. He had “knives all over,” the documents say.

The next day, Baker’s friend showed up and drove the three to the Plaza downtown, where the female victim began telling a friend about the assault.

Overhearing the conversation, Baker became upset and threatened to kill the friend and her baby, calling her a racial slur and displaying a large knife. The male victim in the earlier assault stepped in to stop the attack as Baker allegedly lunged with the knife at the woman and baby. A security guard came out and threatened to pepper spray Baker, who then fled, the documents say.

Police stopped Baker with a stun gun nearby on North Wall Street after he refused several commands to stop.

He faces three counts of second-degree assault, amended from first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree kidnapping and one count of second-degree rape. He appeared in court Friday on the amended and added charges. Judge Kathleen O’Connor kept his bond at $125,000.