A man accused of pulling a knife on a Peppermill Empress Inn employee who confronted him Thursday about not checking out of the Centralia hotel on time has been charged with second-degree assault in Lewis County Superior Court.
No injuries were reported in the assault.
Bail for the defendant, Jose Trinidad Diaz, 57, of Centralia, was set at $100,000 on Friday.
Diaz had reportedly rented a room Jan. 11 for one night and failed to check out before the hotel’s 11 a.m. checkout time, prompting a hotel employee to make multiple calls to the room and, when those went unanswered, go knock on the hotel room door. When she got no answer, the employee then reportedly used a key to crack the door open.
At that point, Diaz reportedly responded, saying “another day,” and was told “he had 10 minutes to come down to the front desk and make payment if he wanted to extend the room for another day,” according to documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court on Friday.
Diaz reportedly didn’t come down to the front desk, prompting the employee to return with another employee who spoke Spanish “in the event Diaz did not speak English.”
The employee reported that “she unlocked the door and was yelling at him through the door,” but the interior door latch was attached so the door could not be opened all the way.
She reportedly “utilized a tool in an attempt to remove the latch and open the door,” at which point Diaz allegedly “stuck a knife out of the door and attempted to cut her with it,” according to court documents.
The employee “described the knife blade as black in color with a silver design on the handle area,” per court documents.
The incident was reported to the Centralia Police Department just before 11:50 a.m. on Jan. 12, along with a request to remove Diaz from the hotel.
A responding sergeant with the Centralia Police Department knocked on Diaz’ hotel room door and, when she got no response, used the key to open the door. Like the employee, she found the interior door latch prevented the door from opening.
Officers were attempting to utilize the employee’s tool to open the latch when Diaz finally responded and opened the door.
He was immediately detained, according to court documents. Officers reportedly found a knife on the bed “that appeared to be related to the assault,” per court documents.
Diaz was booked into the Lewis County Jail just after 1:05 p.m. on Thursday and had his preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court at 4 p.m. on Friday.
His arraignment hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 19.
