PORT ANGELES — Because he’s been able to make bail on a host of violent charges, alleged bus-passenger attacker Riley Edge White, 59, had his bond set Monday at $150,000 on a new case.
The second-degree assault-domestic violence charge originated from a Saturday morning incident in which Riley’s housemate was bloodied and he was charged with attacking her.
“Given the fact that you’ve managed to make bail on these other matters, and given the severity of the allegations in this case, $150,000 is appropriate,” Chris Melly, Clallam County Superior Court judge, said Monday at White’s first court appearance on the new charge.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sarah Acker had requested $200,000 bail for White.
White, represented Monday by Harry Gasnick of Clallam Public Defender, owns the $120,568 South I Street home in which the Saturday morning assault allegedly occurred, according to the county Assessor’s Office.
He rents out rooms in the house, including one to the victim, according to court records.
Melly set 1:30 p.m. Friday for White’s arraignment on the assault charge.
The woman White allegedly attacked was treated and released Saturday at Olympic Medical Center for facial bruises and contusions and a broken nose, Port Angeles Police Cpl. David Dombrowski said Monday.
Earlier Friday, at 9 a.m., status hearings will be held on two other cases involving White.
In one, White allegedly attacked a Clallam County Transit bus driver and an 80-year-old passenger May 28.
In the other, he allegedly punched a Clallam County Jail corrections officer July 11.
White posted $50,000 bail July 29 on kidnapping, robbery, second-degree assault and custodial assault charges connected to the two incidents.
The charge heard Monday stemmed from White himself calling 9-1-1 at 10:45 a.m. Saturday to report that he had been attacked.
He was arrested seven minutes later.
White had reported that his housemate attacked him with a knife at the residence, Port Angeles Police Sgt. Joshua Powless said late Sunday night in a prepared statement.
When officers arrived, they found the woman outside the house.
“She was lying on the sidewalk, completely covered in blood,” Dombrowski said Monday in an interview.
“I thought she had been cut because of the knife play and I asked if [White] had touched her with the knife and she said no, he only used his fist.
“Her face was horribly swollen.”
Dombrowski said the woman told police she was at the sink getting herself a drink of water and he came up behind her.
They faced each other and he hit her without provocation, Dombrowski said.
She told police White floored her, punched her repeatedly, choked her and told her he was going to kill her, before she escaped and was helped by neighbors, according to a statement from the Port Angeles Police Department.
White told police upon his arrest that he had a brain injury several years ago and could not remember what happened, according to the probable cause statement filed Monday by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Dombrowski said in the statement that White had blood on his pants when he was arrested.
White has claimed he was beaten up severely in Mexico several years ago, leaving him with a brain injury.
“He claims he has seizures and does not remember his actions during these seizures,” Dombrowski said in the probable cause statement.
White, asked how the victim and he had blood on themselves, told Dombrowski the victim owed him money for rent, Dombrowski said.
Clallam Public Defender has been awaiting a mental evaluation of White, Gasnick said late Monday.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
