Brawl sends stabbing victim to hospital

A brawl involving more than 50 people in Spokane Valley early Sunday morning sent one man to the hospital with a serious stab wound.

Investigators have not made an arrest and say it’s unclear what drew the crowd outside the Manor Vale Apartments at 10101 E. Main Ave.

Witnesses aren’t talking.

A portion of the fight was captured on video by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office helicopter using infrared cameras after deputies were called around 2 a.m.

The video shows that the fight appeared to break up, and start again. When Deputy Randy Watts arrived, he discovered a man had been stabbed and was bleeding profusely from an artery. The deputy applied a clotting agent to the wound, which slowed the bleeding until medics arrived.

The stabbing victim, whose name has not been released, later was listed in stable condition at a local hospital. He told deputies that he did not know who stabbed him, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Mark Gregory.

People on scene told deputies they hadn’t seen the stabbing, but it’s unlikely that’s true, Gregory said.

“We contacted everyone and nobody saw anything,” he said.

Jon Adams, the owner of the apartments, lives in the complex but said he was out of town Sunday.

“I’m trying to get to the bottom of it,” he said. “I’m talking to tenants now.”

It’s not unusual for deputies to be called often to apartment complexes, simply because there are a lot of people in a small area, Gregory said. However, the Manor Vale apartments, behind a vacant lot along East Sprague Avenue, seems to have more than its fair share of incidents, and deputies frequently patrol there, he said.

“It gets more attention than most places,” Gregory said. “We’re in that area a lot.”

Recent calls from the apartment complex this month include vehicle prowls, vehicle thefts and malicious mischief.

Adams said many recent calls to police from the complex came from one man who would call for any little thing, including loud music and someone in his parking spot.

“He’s gone now,” Adams said. “Since he’s left, a lot of the complaints have gone down.”

Adams noted that the brawl occurred in the street outside the entrance to the complex, not inside.

“We’ve got kids here,” he said. “It’s a small residential community and I want to keep it that way.”