A 31-year-old Medical Lake man was in custody last Thursday charged with three counts of third-degree assault after he sprayed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old daughter with pepper spray in a dispute over a tricycle.
Deputies were called to the 500 block of North Brower shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, and found the couple and child suffering from the effects of pepper spray.
Deputy Ray Miller said all three had orange stains on their faces and arms from the spray, and it appeared the child's skin was beginning to blister. All three said they were experiencing severe pain from the spray, and were being treated by paramedics.
In interviews with the family and suspect, 31-year-old Andrew Nelson Evans, deputies determined that the suspect had obtained permission from his landlord to remove an area of grass where he could start a garden. He moved the child's tricycle from the spot and became involved in an argument with her mother.
During the argument, Evans called the mother a vulgar name and she retreated to her home with Evans following her to the front door. There, they met the father who was holding the child inside the doorway.
Evans reportedly pulled out a canister of Oleo Capsicum (pepper) spray and squirted it onto the faces and arms of all three members of the family. His arm protruded into the home and pepper spray stained furnishings and walls inside the home.
Miller said it appeared that the wife's neck and child's arms were blistering from the exposure to the spray. He arrested Evans for the three counts of assault and booked him into jail.
Evans later said he was acting in self-defense because he had been threatened with a baseball bat.
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