CAMAS — Court records offer more details on the events leading up to the Sept. 13 arrest of a Camas City Council member.
Councilman John Svilarich, 66, is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court on a summons for charges of second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in connection with an Aug. 31 argument along the Washougal River Greenway trail in Camas.
He was previously scheduled to appear in Camas Municipal Court for misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and aiming or discharging a firearm. But the case was dismissed there last week, court records show, and forwarded to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for filing of the felony assault charge.
Camas police were dispatched at 7:52 a.m. Aug. 31 to the Greenway trail following a 911 call from Daniel Beaudoin, 46, of Portland. Beaudoin reported that a man — later identified by police as Svilarich — had thrown a rock at him from the pedestrian bridge and “pointed a firearm at him,” according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Camas police Detective Gary Manning.
Police said Beaudoin had been fishing on the south bank of the Washougal River near the Greenway trail pedestrian bridge that Saturday morning. Svilarich, who was walking the trail with his Labrador retriever and friend John Neumann, allegedly confronted Beaudoin over improper disposal of a cigarette butt.
“They both yelled and cussed at each other,” police said in the affidavit. Svilarich and Neumann then “continued on the trail, north of the bridge.”
Beaudoin told police that when Svilarich and Neumann passed back over the pedestrian bridge, heading south, Svilarich threw a rock in his direction, according to court records.
“Svilarich was observed, by another witness, looking over the bridge railing two times. A rock, approximately 5 to 8 inches was thrown or dropped … by Svilarich off the bridge,” according to the affidavit. It landed “in close proximity to Beaudoin.”
Police said Beaudoin walked to the trail and “verbally confronted Svilarich for throwing the rock.”
The men engaged in more verbal sparring, police said, standing at least 40 feet apart before Svilarich allegedly “pulled out a black firearm pistol and pointed it in the direction of Beaudoin.”
Beaudoin told police he retreated to the riverbank and that “Svilarich moved down the main trail path in the direction towards where Beaudoin had been standing, shifting the firearm between having the firearm pointed at Beaudoin and pointing at the ground,” according to the affidavit.
When police arrived and confronted Svilarich, they found the city councilman was carrying a semi-automatic handgun in the back waistband of his pants, according to court records. Svilarich has a concealed-carry license.
According to police, Svilarich originally denied having a gun but then said he did have a gun but did not display it.
Svilarich later told police he had pulled his firearm but had not pointed it at Beaudoin; instead, he “had it at ‘low ready’ to protect himself.”
Police said in the affidavit that Svilarich also admitted to throwing the rock off the pedestrian bridge but said he didn’t know Beaudoin was near where it had landed.
An incident report filed Aug. 31 by Camas police Officer David Chaney said Svilarich told officers he would not point a firearm at someone.
“I asked why someone would make up a story like that and Svilarich responded, ‘He’s an asshole.’ I asked how the person even knew he was in possession of a firearm, and Svilarich claimed, ‘I don’t know.’ I challenged Svilarich by suggesting it is probably not just a lucky guess. Svilarich responded, ‘It could be. (Three-quarters) of a million people in Washington have a concealed permit,’” Chaney said in his report.
According to police, Svilarich showed Chaney the gun holstered to his waistband and his concealed-carry permit, and told officers he is a certified pistol instructor and certified range instructor. Svilarich refused to allow police any further examination of the weapon and would not voluntarily allow police to have it.
Officers allowed Neumann, who said he was running late for an event, to leave the scene before being interviewed. They made arrangements to interview Neumann by phone.
When police later interviewed Neumann, officers said, he reenacted Svilarich’s actions, which included drawing a pistol from his right hip area, moving his arms up and holding his hands extended out in front of him in a shooting stance. Neumann said Svilarich had the gun up and pointed in the direction of Beaudoin, but he couldn’t say whether the gun was pointed at Beaudoin, according to a probable cause affidavit.
According to police, Svilarich told Chaney he had seen the fisherman (Beaudoin) throw a cigarette butt into the river and had “called him out about it.”
“Svilarich said the fisherman was calling him names and tried to get Svilarich to come down to the water’s edge and fight him,” Chaney stated in his report. Svilarich declined and said Beaudoin accosted the pair, getting between them on the trail and calling Svilarich obscene names.
According to Chaney’s report, Beaudoin eventually admitted that he had challenged Svilarich “to a fight of sorts,” but said that when Svilarich continued along the trail, Beaudoin thought the incident was over.
“About 10 to 20 minutes later, the guys are back on the bridge,” Chaney said in his report. “Then a large rock gets thrown off the bridge and lands right next to Beaudoin.”
Beaudoin told Chaney he then walked up from beneath the pedestrian bridge and caught up to Svilarich and Neumann on the trail, where he confronted Svilarich about throwing the rock.
Chaney said in his report that Beaudoin said Svilarich drew a gun from his waistband, pointed it directly at Beaudoin and said, “I’d back up if I were you.”
Beaudoin told Chaney he was about 50 feet away from Svilarich and that he then called Svilarich a vulgar name and walked away. “He says Svilarich kept the gun aimed at him the whole time,” Chaney said in his report.
Beaudoin said he then called 911.
A Washougal resident described in Chaney’s report as an acquaintance of Beaudoin’s also was fishing under the bridge that morning. He told police he had seen two men look over the bridge railing. Then, he said, he saw Svilarich throw a rock off the bridge.
The witness told Chaney he saw Beaudoin leave the river’s edge and walk to the trail, but he said he could not see or hear what happened next. He said Beaudoin returned a few moments later and told him, “The guy pulled a gun on me.”
Chaney also reported that Svilarich said he probably should have called 911. “We also discussed his dishonest responses initially. He said he was anxious and has never had this type of interaction with police before.”
Svilarich, who was elected to the Camas City Council in November 2023, has since hired Vancouver criminal defense attorney Jon McMullen to represent him.
Becca Robbins of The Columbian contributed to this story.
