A 21-year-old Chehalis man was remanded into custody on $150,000 bail Monday afternoon following a hearing on domestic violence charges in Lewis County Superior Court.
The man is accused of squeezing a woman’s neck, pulling her down a set of stairs and breaking her phone following an argument on July 15.
The Chronicle is not releasing the man’s name in order to protect the identity of the alleged victim.
The reporting party contacted law enforcement just before 2 p.m., saying she had received a text message from the alleged victim asking her to call 911 because “he’s beating me up,” according to court documents. When officers arrived at the scene in the 1200 block of Centralia Avenue, a man outside the residence reportedly told them “he’s beating the crap out of her in there,” according to court documents.
The alleged victim later told police she and the suspect got into an argument at a Chehalis residence that ended with the man allegedly “grabbing her around the neck and squeezing,” according to court documents. He reportedly stopped when the man’s mother “came into the room with a baseball bat threatening (the man) with the bat,” according to court documents. At some point during the argument, the man allegedly threw the victim’s phone on the ground, shattering the screen.
The two eventually ended up at the Centralia address, where the man reportedly “became paranoid the police were looking for him,” according to court documents. The alleged victim reportedly started crying, which prompted the man to allegedly “(get) into her face yelling at her to stop crying so the police wouldn’t show up,” according to court documents. The victim said this is when she texted the reporting party. After she’d done so, the man allegedly “knocked her down and pulled her down a set of stairs” before fleeing the residence, according to court documents.
The officers entered the house and saw the alleged victim had “what appeared to be injuries to her body and head,” at which point they were advised a man “ran outside the back of the house, jumped a fence and ran from the area,” according to court documents.
Officers located the man a short time later, according to court documents. He reportedly “denied touching (the victim) at any time,” according to court documents.
A court administrator set the man’s bail at $20,000 following the man’s arrest on Friday pending a preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Monday. However, the man posted bail over the weekend and appeared for his hearing out of custody.
Regarding the $20,000 bail, Deputy Prosecutor Scott Jackson said Monday, “I don’t believe that’s appropriate given the circumstances so I’m going to ask the court to increase it.”
Jackson asked Judge Joely Yeager to raise the man’s bail to $75,000 due to concerns about community safety and the man’s warrant history.
Defense Attorney Rachael Tiller cited the man’s return to court after his release and his assurance that he would follow court orders as reasons not to raise his bail.
However, Yeager opted to set bail higher than both requests at $150,000, citing the man’s domestic violence history, warrant history and the fact that he was out on bail for an unrelated case when this offense allegedly occurred.
“Not only are you a risk to community safety, you’re a particular risk to this alleged victim and you have shown that you cannot follow court orders,” Yeager told the man Monday.
He was remanded into custody immediately following Monday’s hearing.
