Deer Park man charged with murder for allegedly gunning car, running over rival

A Deer Park man is charged with first-degree murder after witnesses said he accelerated his car to 80 miles per hour and deliberately ran down a man he had been arguing with over a woman. Chewelah police were called to the 900 block of North Victoria Street just after 1 a.m. on Sunday for a reported car accident. The first officer on scene found a man performing CPR on the victim, identified as Jonathan Bumatay. Police and firefighters continued CPR until Bumatay was taken away by an ambulance. The man who initially performed CPR told police that he was in a car with his friend, 19-year-old Sherman K. Akina, when Akina ran down Bumatay, according to court documents. The friend said he thought Akina might have gotten out of the car and kicked Bumatay after hitting him with the car. The impact threw Bumatay between 100 and 150 feet down the road and witnesses told police that he was launched high in the air, according to court documents. Akina then left the scene. The passenger said that Akina had been arguing with Bumatay over a woman who had children with Bumatay. He told police that Akina was driving down the road and saw Bumatay push the woman as the two were standing on the side of the road, according to court documents. The passenger said Akina didn’t say a word, but accelerated directly toward Bumatay and never tried to swerve away. Akina had been drinking beer before the incident, the witness said. Police found Akina’s car concealed off the side of a road near his sister’s house. After leaving the car Akina knocked on his sister’s door and asked her to take him to the nearby Chewelah Casino, where he called police to turn himself in, according to court documents. The car had damage to its windshield, front passenger window, grille and front bumper and also had blood on it, court documents said. Officers who arrested Akina said he displayed no emotion and was polite and cooperative. They also reported that his eyes were bloodshot and he smelled of alcohol, according to court documents. Akina is in the Stevens County jail, held on a $300,000 bond.