SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Covington victim’s girlfriend: Neighbor wasn’t using self defense
Jun 13, 2013, 3:32 PM | Updated: 5:36 pm
The girlfriend of a Covington man left in a coma after a dispute with a neighbor says her boyfriend wasn’t the instigator.
Both sides of the dispute tell the story about that day very differently, and police are still deciding who, if anyone, should be charged with a crime.
The victim’s girlfriend, Amanda, says the neighbor that hit her boyfriend with a baseball bat wasn’t justified. And she says his claims that her boyfriend was harassing his son for months are untrue.
Steven, the other man involved, told the Dori Monson Show that his 13-year-old stepson kicked his soccer ball into their neighbor’s yard. He said his son was so afraid of the man that he brought a baseball bat with him when he went to get the ball, and that he was then attacked. Steven then said he came outside to hear his neighbor threaten to kill the boy. That’s when he grabbed the bat and hit his neighbor in the head.
Amanda sent a letter through Sergeant Cindi West, of the King County Sheriff’s Department, to tell her side of the story:
“Today was a very hard day for the friends and family of the victim. Not only has he taken a turn for the worse after having emergency surgery, they have to listen to the mother of the child and the boyfriend in the news media spreading outrageous misinformation. It’s bad enough that the the attack by the boyfriend put him in a coma but it adds insult to injury that they are also attacking the good character of someone that can’t even speak to defend themselves. I believe this behavior speaks volumes about the mother, the boyfriend and the child. While one man is fighting for his life the assailent is going for 15 minutes of fame. Very classy…
Because there is an ongoing investigation I chose not to appear on the radio to defend the inflammatory statements made by the other offending parties, I believe the case should be tried in the court room and not in the news. I also know my statement to be true and accurate & I don’t need to create elaborate stories of harassment to garner false public sympathy. Many of the things said by both the mother & boyfriend were so outrageously false as to be almost laughable were it not for the dire situation.
The facts are these: The child brought the bat with intention, why else would you bring a bat? It was not a baseball they were playing with.
The victim took the bat away & said to another witness “call 911”. If he had been intending to harm the child why then would he call 911, this call is recorded & time stamped. The boyfriend ran down the street towards the victim yelling & closing into the victims space with anger, the victim swung low to fend off the boyfriend. The boyfriend took the bat thus disarming the victim & swung at his head connecting with his head.
The law dictates that you have to be inimminent danger to use deadly force as self defense. Because the victim had no weapon when the boyfriend chose to swing for the head neither he nor the child was in any imminent danger & had no cause to apply deadly force. These are the bare facts.
This is a very unfortunate situation that got very far out of hand, regardless of how it began, the result is that one man is in the hospital from an injury with a baseball bat that was brought by the child & used by the boyfriend. End of story.”
