‘Perfect outcome’: Off-duty detective foils robbery at South Hill phone store

Detective Brad Humphrey decided to run some errands on his day off, and went to the T-Mobile store on South Regal Street near Target.

He had just finished telling a store employee that he qualified for the first responder discount when a man wearing a hood and a face mask walked over to a merchandise stand in the corner of the store and started cutting some plastic to remove some headphones from the sales rack.

A T-Mobile employee at the South Regal location, confronted the man, later identified by Spokane Police as Cyrus Quarles.

Quarles then told the employee to “back off,” Humphrey said.

That’s when Humphrey said he spotted a 10-inch kitchen knife held at a right angle in Quarles hand.

Humphrey saw that two employees were within just a few feet of Quarles and took action.

He drew his pistol and identified himself as a law enforcement officer, telling Quarles to drop the knife, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, where Humphrey works.

Quarles didn’t initially comply while Humphrey said he positioned himself in the doorway of the store.

After Humphrey asked him to drop it again, Quarles put the knife back in its sheath, “slammed it on the counter,” and said “I’m done,” according to Humphrey.

One of the store employees called 911 and reported the robbery, giving police a description of both the suspect and Humphrey.

Police arrived minutes later and took Quarles into custody.

After initially providing a fake name, Quarles was arrested and booked into Spokane County Jail on the charge of first-degree commercial robbery.

Quarles’ criminal record includes convictions for attempting to elude police, money laundering, theft, and robbery.

“It was a perfect outcome for what could have been a very violent and awful situation,” Humphrey said.

Humphrey has been with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office since 2013, spending seven years on patrol before recently becoming a detective in the sexual assault unit.

While Humphrey now spends more time working at a desk, he said training and years of patrol work kicked in.

“All the training we do received through our department kind of takes over,” Humphrey said.

Quarles apologized after he had been in custody for a while, Humphrey said.

“The suspect apologized to me for putting everyone in that situation,” Humphrey said.

While Humphrey didn’t get his new phone, he does feel good about preventing what could have been a more serious situation.

“Any one of our officers in Spokane County or the city of Spokane would have gladly done the same thing whether off duty or on duty,” he said.