Spokane Police arrest man twice in same afternoon

Taylor Graham by Taylor Graham

Spokane Police officers are frustrated that a man they arrested Tuesday was in jail for just three hours before he was arrested again for first degree burglary.

Dennis Schultz, 71, is back in jail yet again, as police say he armed himself with a four-foot metal rod, then assaulted someone at the Northeast Community Center this week.

Schultz was first arrested around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday after he tried to assault a park employee near Division and Lacrosse. Police found Schultz had a few outstanding warrants to his name, so they arrested him and booked him into the Spokane County Jail.

Three and a half hours later, police were called to the Northeast Community Center.

“We received a call from the community center on North Cook, that Mr. Schultz had entered their building, appeared to be intoxicated, armed himself with a 4-foot metal rod and was staring at people which was causing them a lot of fear,” said officer John O’Brien. “Security officers up there at the facility were able to disarm him and detain him, but that wasn’t done before Mr. Schultz struck one of the employees up there, causing an injury.”

Schultz was arrested and booked back into jail around 2 p.m. Tuesday.

According to a Spokane County spokesperson, Schultz originally got out of jail because he was booked in on misdemeanor warrants like trespassing, which were not serious or violent enough to keep him in jail. He was released on his own recognizance.

“When it happens, it is frustrating to the police officers — and I imagine it’s frustrating to the community as well,” said O’Brien. “Maybe members of the community might say ‘well, this is a 71-year-old man. He really couldn’t have hurt anybody,’ but it goes to show you that even a person that’s in their older years can still have violent tendencies and in this case, attempted to assault one person and did succeed in assaulting another.”

Now charged with first degree burglary, a class A felony, it will be much harder for Schulz to walk out of jail. He’s being held on a $25,000 bond and will appear in court again on August 6.

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