Spangle man arrested after alleged rampage with stick

Spokane County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Spangle man after he allegedly beat two men with a wooden stick while calling them prostitutes.

Witnesses told investigators that Joseph Fekete beat a man with a 39-inch stick outside church Sunday evening, then attacked another man on Main Street.

Fekete also is suspected of smashing windows and beating a victim’s car with his stick, causing about $5,000 of damage and yelling that he was going to kill one of the victims while beating him. Witnesses eventually disarmed Fekete.

Witnesses told responding deputies that Fekete had a history of mental health problems or drug use resulting erratic behavior, Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Mark Gregory said. While in the car to jail, he went “from low to high extremes,” Gregory said. At times, he banged his head on the cage inside the car, then calmed down and apologized, saying he knew what he did was wrong.

None of the victims had life-threatening injuries. Fekete faces first-degree assault, harassment and malicious mischief charges.