A Vancouver man is accused of beating another man with a metal pipe, causing him to suffer a fractured skull and vertebra, during a confrontation Saturday at an Orchards apartment complex.
Don P. Autry, 44, appeared Thursday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree assault. His bail was set at $200,000, and he is scheduled to be arraigned April 21.
Clark County sheriff’s deputies responded at about 5:30 a.m. to the Prairie View Apartments, 12611 N.E. 99th St. A woman called 911 to report that her former boyfriend, whom she identified as Autry, had hit a man with a metal pole, according to a probable cause affidavit. Autry drove away before deputies arrived.
Deputies spoke with the victim, identified as Steven Lawrence, who was sitting in a Dodge pickup. He suffered about a 4-inch laceration on his head, and a deputy helped Lawrence hold a towel to his head to slow the bleeding, court records state. The truck’s windshield appeared to have been struck multiple times on the driver’s side and once on the passenger’s side with a blunt object. The windows on each side were also shattered.
Lawrence was taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, where he received multiple staples in his head. The affidavit states the beating “could have easily taken his life.”
After he was treated for his injuries, Lawrence told deputies he’d called 911 earlier in the morning to report a fight between Autry and the woman. Deputies responded to that call, but the woman refused to answer the door, court records state.
Lawrence said he was waiting outside of the apartment in his truck after calling 911 for the woman. He said he saw Autry at his own truck and another man he didn’t recognize drove up and parked nearby. Then, Autry approached Lawrence and began yelling. He said he couldn’t tell what Autry was yelling before Autry and the unknown man struck his windshield with metal pipes multiple times, according to the affidavit.
Once the windows were shattered, Lawrence fell out of the truck to the ground, he said. He tried to block Autry from hitting him, he said, and a deputy noticed swelling to Lawrence’s hand and finger, court records state. Lawrence couldn’t recall how many times he was hit but said that when he tried to get away, Autry hit him in the head. He was eventually able to get inside the woman’s apartment, at which point he believes Autry and his friend left, the affidavit says.
