Man’s bail set to $1 million after he told police he tried to break his friend’s neck, Cheney police say

A 24-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder told police he intended to kill his friend, in part over an argument involving a cigar, after witnesses said he accelerated his car toward the friend and struck his leg, according to court documents.

After Matthew Cotton and a friend returned to Cheney from a roadtrip to Seattle this week, they broke into a fight at the Conoco gas station on First Street, according to court records.

Two independent witnesses told a Cheney police officer Cotton, 24, drove his car, later identified as a 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, toward his friend. One witness said he heard the driver, Cotton, yell that he was going to kill the man prior to getting in the car, the records say.

The victim told police after breaking into a fist fight, Cotton said at least five times he was going to kill him. Cotton then got in his car, started to drive away, turned around and accelerated toward the victim, hitting his leg, according to the records.

In an interview with police, Cotton yelled several times “I want this (expletive) dead.” He told police his friend had been disrespectful to a woman, they had an argument over a cigar, and that his friend punched him in the face and tried to steal his shoes, the records say.

Cotton told police that he told his friend “I’m going to kill you” multiple times and that he told the victim he would kill the man’s mother, according to the court documents.

“I tried to run that (expletive) over. I was gonna break his neck,” Cotton told the police, according to the documents.

The officer then asked if Cotton intended to kill his friend and he said he did and that “he’s lucky I didn’t use the change in my pocket to set him on fire,” the records say.

Cotton was scheduled for his first appearance in court Friday. His bail is set to $1 million .