Man arrested for beating 62-year-old woman

Spokane police arrested a man suspected of throwing a 62-year-old woman down a flight of stairs during a burglary last month. The man, David J. Bassford, 38, was arrested in connection with an incident that took place on Sept. 6. A woman reported that she heard a knock on her door in the 900 block of East 8th Ave., but when she went to answer, no one was there, according to a police news release. Bassford came walking out of her dining room carrying her camera, and when she confronted him, he allegedly knocked her to the ground and hit her repeatedly, the release said. “The suspect then picked up the victim and threw her down a long flight of concrete stairs,” the release said. The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment and required surgery for a broken arm. After an investigation, police arrested Bassford Friday and booked him into jail for first degree robbery, first degree burglary and second degree assault, the news release said.