A transient man who is accused of stabbing a man in the back, in what police described as a random attack, appeared Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court.
Joshua Anthony Ryan, 29, faces an allegation of first-degree assault stemming from the Sunday morning stabbing in Vancouver’s Harney Heights neighborhood.
Judge John Fairgrieve set Ryan’s bail at $250,000, citing the state’s claim that Ryan stabbed the man unprovoked. The judge also noted Ryan’s five previous assault convictions and 11 prior warrants.
Ryan is scheduled to be arraigned July 2.
Vancouver police responded around 9:20 a.m. to the 3300 block of East 18th Street after Byron Stine called to report that he had been stabbed in the lower back, on his spine, by an unknown man, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Stine said his attacker, later identified by police as Ryan, accused him of taking photos of him as they walked past each other. Stine said he told Ryan he wasn’t taking any photos and kept walking, court records state.
Ryan then stabbed Stine from behind and ran away, according to the affidavit.
Stine was taken to a hospital for treatment.
He described the man who stabbed him to police, who searched the area. Police detained Ryan who “loosely matched the description” Stine provided, the affidavit says, but released him until Stine could look at a photo laydown. Stine subsequently identified Ryan as his attacker from the photos, court records state.
Police said they also saw Ryan wearing a blue shirt described by Stine on video footage from a nearby minimart. An employee at the minimart told police they believed Ryan lived at a nearby transient camp, according to the affidavit.
Officers said they later found the shirt at the transient camp. Court records show Ryan was arrested in the 1600 block of East Fourth Plain Boulevard.
