A sushi chef and a cook at a local Centralia restaurant face felony charges after they allegedly beat a coworker with chairs before threatening him with a chef’s knife.
The sushi chef, Dan Liu, 36, of Monterey Park, California, was charged with two counts of second-degree assault and one count of felony harassment by the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office. Second-degree assault is a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. The charge is considered a strike offense, meaning three such convictions would result in a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Felony harassment is a Class C felony.
Prosecutors allege that Liu was the one wielding the knife during the altercation.
The cook, Xingyong Han, 37, of Rosemead, California, was charged with one count of second-degree assault for his alleged role.
Centralia police responded to the restaurant altercation on Jan. 9, according to the probable cause affidavit filed by the prosecutors. Court documents state that the alleged crimes occurred at Peking House in Centralia, but that business has long been closed. Kobe Sushi Teriyaki now operates at the location.
One officer reportedly observed the alleged victim walking to his car while bleeding from his right ear before witnessing the two suspects running out of the restaurant’s back door.
Police detained the suspects.
A witness allegedly told police that Liu and Han “both hit (the victim) in the head with chairs before Dan (Liu) ran behind the sushi bar and grabbed a knife,” the affidavit states.
The knife was described in the affidavit as a “chef's knife with an approximately 8" blade.”
Police reportedly noted broken dishes and blood on the floor.
According to the affidavit, an owner of the restaurant told police that the incident began as a verbal dispute before the defendants assaulted the victim with chairs. The owner said he intervened after Liu began walking toward the victim with the knife.
While at the hospital, the victim reportedly told police he did not know which man injured his ear, as his glasses had been knocked off during the alleged assault.
According to the affidavit, the victim told police that when Liu grabbed the knife Liu said, "Don't call the police or I'm going to kill you.”
During their preliminary hearings on Monday, Jan. 12, Judge Joely Yeager honored the state’s request for a bail of $50,000 cash or bond for both defendants.
Han’s attorney, Boris Petrenko, had attempted to argue for a bail of $5,000, noting that Han was not alleged to have had a knife in his hand during the altercation.
Yeager was not swayed, indicating the court wasn’t going to consider who was the principal or accomplice at this stage, only the violent nature of the alleged offense.
Liu, communicating through a Mandarin interpreter, told the court he would obtain his own attorney for future proceedings, and said he would “deny all the charges against me.”
Defense attorney Rachael Tiller, who represented Liu during his appearance, said she was not aware of any criminal history for Liu.
Yeager ordered the defendants not to have contact with each other while the case was pending.
Both men were scheduled for arraignments on Jan. 15.
