Man accused of kicking father in face, burning house,standoff with deputies in north Spokane

The 37-year-old man involved in the long standoff with authorities last week in north Spokane is accused of kicking his father in the face, setting his father’s house on fire and resisting SWAT deputies before they took him into custody.

Brian Olson made his first appearance in court Monday for charges of first-degree arson, fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest. He is scheduled for an arraignment Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court. His bond is set at $100,000.

Olson allegedly demanded his father, Eric Olson, repay him money he was owed, accused his father of telling Brian Olson’s mother that he was buying drugs, and then reportedly kicked his father in the left side of the face around 1:30 p.m. Oct. 20 inside Eric Olson’s residence, according to court documents.

Eric Olson left his house at 8116 N. Crestline St. after he was allegedly assaulted and then called 911, the documents said.

Brian Olson reportedly yelled at deputies through a closed door of the house that he did not do anything wrong and was refusing to come out.

Additional deputies surrounded the house, documents said. They said Brian Olson has an “extensive violent history” of domestic violent assault, including assault with a firearm.

A member of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team observed smoke coming from the roofline of the residence but he did not see flames or a fire, according to documents.

After several hours of unsuccessful communication with the defendant, law enforcement left the scene without serving a search warrant and Brian Olson remained inside the home.

The SWAT team returned to the house at about 10:40 a.m. the next day to execute the search warrant.

Around noon, authorities used a key to open a door of the home and SWAT personnel noted the interior of the residence was thick with smoke, documents said. They did not observe a fire.

Authorities breached the windows to a bedroom around 12:30 p.m. and the interior of the room appeared to be completely blackened and burned.

Documents said the severity of the charring indicated the materials inside the room had likely been smoldering and burning overnight.

At about 1 p.m., the charred room began to smolder and smoke heavily and the fire reignited in the bedroom and started to spread throughout the residence.

Spokane County Fire District 9 and the Spokane Fire Department extinguished the flames that had engulfed much of the main floor of the home moving from the bedroom to the rest of the building. A member of the SWAT team said in the documents he heard loud popping sounds similar to fireworks or ammunition exploding because of the heat of the fire.

After firefighters extinguished the blaze, SWAT personnel located Brian Olson hiding under debris on a bed in the basement of the home.

Documents said Brian Olson resisted arrest but was eventually taken into custody.

The documents said he has a history of threatening to burn residences and of making or attempting to make homemade explosive devices during interactions with law enforcement.