He’s accused of a stabbing in Tacoma. The knife had his name on it, charging papers say
A man accused of knifing two people while walking to his car from a bar in Tacoma’s Stadium District has pleaded not guilty at arraignment.
The 42-year-old is charged with two counts of first-degree assault. He appeared in Pierce County Superior Court Monday.
He was headed to his vehicle after drinking with his wife and another man when an argument with people on the sidewalk allegedly led to a fight, court records say.
According to charging papers:
Police responded April 12 to North Tacoma and Division avenues, where one man had suffered a cut to his neck and another had a knife wound to his abdomen.
The abdominal wound “was described as possibly life threatening,” deputy prosecutor Patrick Cooper wrote in the declaration for determination of probable cause.
The suspect had left before officers arrived.
A witness told police the suspect had been kicking no-parking signs, and the two men yelled for him to stop. A fight ensued, and the suspect yelled strange things such as: “I will exorcise the demons from you!”
Officers stopped a vehicle in the area, and found the suspect and the man he’d been drinking with earlier inside.
The suspect was throwing his hands in the air, yelling profanities and yelling for officers to shoot him.
His wife arrived and told police they had all left the bar and were walking to their cars when a man knocked her husband to the ground, and another man started punching her husband.
She said she ran to break up the fight and yelled for her husband to leave.
She also told police she didn’t see blood, injuries or a weapon and that her husband doesn’t own or carry a knife.
The man they’d been drinking with said otherwise.
He told police they’d all talked about the suspect’s knife at the bar. He told police he thought the folding knife, which had the suspect’s name on it, was a gift from the wife.
He said he didn’t see a fight but that he did see the defendant holding the knife.
The friend put it in some bushes before they left, he said, where officers later found it.
He was charged with rendering criminal assistance.
This story was originally published April 16, 2019 at 2:20 PM.
