Three people appeared in court Monday after one of them allegedly struck a bystander with a baseball bat after the group allegedly shoplifted alcohol from the Battle Ground Albertsons last week.
Kyler Lee Purcell, 20; Douglas R. Jewell, 18; and a 17-year-old girl appeared in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree robbery. Court records indicate Purcell and the girl are homeless; Jewell listed a Chehalis address.
According to an investigator’s probable cause affidavit, police officers were dispatched to the supermarket Wednesday night for a reported assault in the store parking lot.
Witnesses told officers they saw a man leaving the store carrying a basket full of alcohol with the anti-theft caps still attached, according to court records.
One customer saw the man walk to a white Honda Civic and pointed it out to a store employee. As the employee returned to the store, she encountered another man, later identified as Purcell, carrying a basket full of alcohol. When she asked him about it, he ran for the same car.
Another customer, Terry Hess, saw what was happening and went to chase Purcell, according to court records.
“Terry told me he was old, but he knew he could catch this ‘big boy’ before he got to his vehicle,” an officer wrote.
Hess tried reaching through the driver’s side window and past the driver to shut off the car.
Purcell began to yell to the driver, the 17-year-old girl, to run over Hess, Hess told police.
According to court records, witnesses said Hess held onto the car as a man in the backseat, later identified as Jewell, reached from the rear window with a baseball bat and started striking Hess.
Hess said he let go when Purcell got out of the vehicle, thinking Purcell was about to assault him. Purcell instead jumped back inside, and the car sped off, nearly striking others, witnesses told police.
Hess showed officers a large bump on his shoulder, along with red marks on his back, but declined to go to a hospital.
Officers reviewed store security video, and allegedly saw Purcell, Jewell and another male suspect take alcohol from the store and leave without paying.
According to court records, officers were able to trace the car’s plates to Purcell, and identified the girl through social media posts. Officers impounded his vehicle for evidence.
Purcell and the girl came to the Battle Ground police station Saturday after his car had been towed, and were arrested.
According to court records, Purcell told officers he and two other men stole the alcohol. They thought Hess was a store loss-prevention employee, Purcell said, and that there was no plan to use the bat.
The girl also said she knew Purcell and his friends had a plan to steal alcohol, and her job was to wait in the car for them to come back.
Officers arrested Jewell early Sunday morning. Court records say he admitted to police his involvement in the theft, and to striking Hess with a bat, but claimed he did so to defend the girl.
The allegations against the 17-year-old girl were referred to the county juvenile court. The status of the fourth suspect, who was not named in court records, was not immediately available.
