Man gets 3 months in jail for People’s Park stabbing

A 40-year-old man was sentenced to three months in jail for stabbing a man multiple times last fall at a homeless encampment near People’s Park.

Nathanael L. Hendrix pleaded guilty Jan. 24 to third-degree assault before Spokane County Superior Court Judge Marla Polin sentenced Hendrix to the jail time. Hendrix was initially arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault after the Nov. 1 stabbing.

According to court documents, the victim told police he saw Hendrix, who the victim did not know, stealing his property that night from the encampment near Riverside Avenue and A Street. The two men started arguing before it escalated and Hendrix allegedly struck the victim, documents say. The victim said Hendrix then stabbed him three or four times, hospitalizing him.

Police said the man was stabbed in the arm, neck and face; the wounds were not considered life-threatening. A witness told police he fought Hendrix to save the victim and then carried the man to the street to get medical aid.

Hendrix claimed self-defense, saying he was jumped and hit with “sticks and crowbars,” court records say.

About one week before the stabbing, a body was found gagged and bound near People’s Park. Three people were charged in the 51-year-old man’s killing.