A 44-year-old Portland man stands accused of jumping onto the hood of a woman’s car with a knife in his hand when she was stopped at a light on East Mill Plain Boulevard on Monday night.
Bradley L. Jenkins was arrested that night on suspicion of felony harassment and third-degree malicious mischief. But court records filed Wednesday show that the harassment charge was changed to a potential second-degree assault charge.
A Vancouver police officer was dispatched about 9:17 p.m. Monday to a parking lot at 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd., where the victim had parked and called police. The encounter with the alleged knife-wielder happened several blocks away.
The woman told the responding officer traveling east on the road when she stopped at a red light and spotted a man across the street, according to a probable cause affidavit.
She said the man, later identified as Jenkins, “began screaming and ran directly at her car while holding a large knife in his right hand,” the affidavit says.
Jenkins jumped on the hood of the car and then got on top of it, according to the affidavit. The terrified woman drove off.
The account of the incident does not say whether the woman sped away while Jenkins was still on top of her car. Police found him at Grand and East Mill Plain boulevards and did not note any injuries. The affidavit simply says he had a knife with a silver blade, matching the victim’s description.
At an initial court appearance Tuesday, Clark County Superior Court Judge Gregory Gonzales set bail at $20,000 and an arraignment date of May 22.
Correction: Clark County Superior Court Judge Gregory Gonzales’ name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story. The spelling of his last name has since been corrected.
