A man accused of throwing a brick through the window of a Winlock home to gain entry and then attacking a woman inside on Saturday is facing five felony charges stemming from the incident.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Joely Yeagher set bail for the defendant, identified as William David Farris Jr., 55, at $150,000 on Monday, Oct. 2, citing his “horrific history of domestic violence” and the “extremely concerning” nature of the allegations.
“There is an extreme risk to community safety here,” Yeagher said of the case Monday.
Farris allegedly broke into the Winlock residence two days after a civil domestic violence protection order against him went into effect. The order barred him from contacting the woman or entering her Winlock home, according to court documents.
The woman obtained the order on Tuesday, Sept. 26, and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office “personally served” Farris with the order on Thursday, Sept. 28.
When interviewed by law enforcement personnel after the incident, the woman said she was sleeping upstairs when “she heard glass break,” prompting her to go into her bathroom and close the door.
While she was inside the bathroom, Farris allegedly “punched a hole in the bathroom door,” “powered his way through the bathroom door,” grabbed the woman’s phone “and threw the phone into the tub, which was filled with water,” according to court documents. He then allegedly “told her she wasn’t going to call 911,” “punched her face with his right fist” and “told her he was going to kill her.”
The woman told law enforcement “she ‘felt helpless, terrified, and felt she was going to die,’” according to court documents.
The woman said she “tried to escape through the front door,” but Farris allegedly stopped her by “slapping her hands away from the door.” He then allegedly “grabbed her and told her to sit on the couch” and “raised his fist at her and said something along the lines of ‘you want some more?’”
Eventually, the woman “was able to get to a window, open it, kick the screen out and flee the house,” according to court documents. She reportedly fled to a neighbor’s house and the neighbor called 911.
A responding officer with the Winlock Police Department and deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office reported the woman’s “left eye was swollen so bad it was almost shut” when they arrived at the scene, according to court documents. It was later learned she sustained a broken nose and possible concussion from the assault.
Farris allegedly fled the scene before law enforcement personnel arrived, but he was stopped and arrested by a Centralia officer and a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy in Centralia, according to court documents.
Farris was booked into the Lewis County Jail at 6:15 p.m. on Sept. 30 and has since been charged with one count each of domestic violence second-degree assault, domestic violence first-degree burglary, domestic violence unlawful imprisonment, interfering with domestic violence reporting, felony harassment and violation of a court order. The charges range in severity from class A felonies, which carry maximum penalties of life in prison, to gross misdemeanors, which carry maximum penalties of 364 days in prison.
“This all occurred after a restraining order (was issued),” Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher said of the allegations during Farris’ preliminary hearing on Monday. “As far as the state is concerned, this is as bad as it gets without someone actually dying.”
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 5.
