An Arizona man who was passing through Vancouver allegedly attacked and tried to kidnap a woman Wednesday afternoon as she was sitting in her parked car near a Safeway store on East Mill Plain Boulevard.
Timothy W. Parker, 37, appeared Thursday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of second-degree assault, felony harassment, second-degree attempted kidnapping and first-degree attempted robbery. He is scheduled to be arraigned on those charges July 25. Judge Barbara Johnson held him on $250,000 bail and appointed Vancouver lawyer W. Todd Pascoe to defend him.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court:
The victim, Vicki M. Wells, was sitting in her vehicle near the Safeway at 6701 E. Mill Plain Blvd. when Parker approached her and asked her for some change. When Wells said she didn’t have any change, Parker allegedly attacked her and overpowered her by placing her in a choke hold.
“‘Come on, let’s go,'” he allegedly said. “‘I’ll kill ya, I’ll kill ya (sic).'”
Then he started to push her into the passenger seat of her vehicle. She told police she thought Parker was trying to kidnap her inside her vehicle. She said she was afraid he might kill her and fought back.
A witness, Emily Kountz, helped prevent the possible kidnapping by summoning Vancouver police. Kountz reported she saw Parker choking Wells and called 911. Parker then fled. Police arrived around 1:48 p.m. and didn’t find him.
Another witness, David Guduchieyano, called police later that day, around 6:24 p.m., when he noticed Parker was back in the area. Police contacted Parker, then arrested him in the 6400 block of East Mill Plain. He was allegedly armed with a weapon with a gray handle that resembled a box knife.
Court documents indicate Parker is from Phoenix. He had been in Clark County for only four days and said he was just passing through the area at the time of the incident.
Paris Achen: 360-735-4551; http://twitter.com/Col_Courts; http://facebook.com/ColTrends; paris.achen@columbian.com.