Man dies after Spokane Valley bar fight; detectives looking for witnesses

A 40-year-old man died Friday evening after five days in the hospital with severe head injuries from a fight outside a bar in Spokane Valley, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office said Monday detectives are looking to speak with anyone who witnessed the fight, which occurred in the early hours of Dec. 29 in the parking lot of Ichabod’s East at 12116 E. Sprague Ave.

Deputies found the victim “bleeding heavily from his head and face” after someone called 911 at about 2 a.m., when the bar closed, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The caller said the man appeared unconscious and the assailant had left the scene.

Deputies later identified the suspect as Joseph R. W. Riley, 38, and arrested him Thursday on suspicion of first-degree assault. He remained in jail Monday evening with bond set at $150,000.

The sheriff’s office did not disclose the name of the victim.

Detectives want to speak with anyone who witnessed the events leading up to the fight, the fight itself or “what may have been said about it in the following days,” the sheriff’s office said.

Specifically, detectives are looking for bar patrons who might have seen Riley interacting with the victim and two women inside the bar, the sheriff’s office said.

Anyone with information can call Detective Marc Melville at (509) 477-3325.