A 45-year-old man faces several allegations including first-degree assault after he allegedly stabbed two Vancouver police officers with a knife who were trying to get him to leave a cafe.
Justin Bernard Krahn was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of first- and fourth-degree assault, as well as harassment that included death threats.
Clark County Superior Court Judge Scott Collier set Krahn’s bail at $100,000 during an initial appearance hearing on Thursday, court records show. The judge also appointed Krahn a defense attorney.
The allegations stem from two separate incidents, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Vancouver police Officer Colton Price was dispatched Wednesday morning to the Golfside Village Apartments at 7700 N.E. 72nd Ave. for the report of an assault.
The victim told the officer that Krahn grabbed him by the shirt with both hands, and then did so a second time while balling his right fist, holding a set of keys that protruded from between his fingers, according to the affidavit.
Krahn threatened to rape, beat and kill the man and kill his family, according to the affidavit, and the victim said he feared for his life during the incident.
Krahn apparently wasn’t taken into custody at the apartment, because he allegedly instigated a fight with officers at a nearby cafe that same morning.
Price reported that he was trying to eat lunch at Cameo Cafe, just south of Northeast 78th Street, when an employee there asked a man who was talking to himself to quiet down, according to the affidavit.
“Without being provoked, Justin Krahn yelled, ‘Next time I will just bring a rifle and start killing people,’ ” the affidavit says.
That’s when the officer went out to his patrol vehicle and put on a police vest. He re-entered the cafe and asked the man to leave peacefully. Krahn quickly stood up and reached in his pocket, took a “bladed stance” and swung at Price, according to the affidavit.
Police were able to take Krahn to the ground, and then they noticed the assailant was holding a folding knife in his right hand, according to the affidavit.
Price was struck twice on his left side as Krahn was brought to the ground. A detective yelled out in pain around the same time.
“Krahn had also stabbed (the detective) on the back side of his leg near his buttocks,” the affidavit says.
The officers were able to handcuff Krahn once he was shocked with a Taser stun gun.
Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said Price and detective Dennis Devlin suffered stab wounds.
“Both are fine,” Kapp said in an email.
Booking paperwork from Clark County Jail says Krahn showed observable mental health problems.
Krahn’s second hearing was set for Friday, when the judge planned to order a competency evaluation for him, court records show.
