PROSECUTOR PUTS SQUEEZE ON ANGRY DEFENDANT PEND OREILLE COUNTY COURT

Deputy Prosecutor Mike Carbone found a bear hug more effective than a legal brief when a defendant started hurling chairs in Pend Oreille County District Court.

Carbone said he grabbed defendant Richard T. Reitz around the waist Friday, pinning his arms, after Reitz threw three chairs across the courtroom.

"I didn't think," Carbone said. "I didn't have time to be scared. I was just running on adrenaline." Reitz, 26, of Diamond Lake, was in court for a bail hearing. He was arrested Thursday and charged with fourth-degree assault in a domestic-violence case involving a girlfriend. Carbone said Reitz seemed upset throughout the hearing and became more agitated when Judge Charles Baechler set bail at $5,000 cash. Reitz has a "fairly extensive" criminal history and threatened to shoot the Pend Oreille County sheriff's deputy who arrested him, Carbone said. Reitz, who remained in the county jail Monday, also faces trial in Spokane County Superior Court on one count of third-degree escape and one count of malicious mischief. The charges were filed Dec. 13 after another domestic-violence arrest in which Reitz allegedly kicked out the back window of a Spokane police car and briefly escaped. In that incident, police responded to a report of domestic violence at 1903 W. College in which two shots reportedly were fired. Reitz was arrested on charges of obstructing and resisting officers and of possessing drug paraphernalia. The handcuffed suspect ran south on Elm after escaping the patrol car, according to court records. He was captured when he fell. The 38-year-old Carbone said nothing in his legal training - or even eight years as a clerk in the Army Reserves - prepared him for Friday's courtroom outburst. Reitz "let out a bellow, kind of a growl," and knocked the microphone off the defense table, Carbone said. Then the 5-foot-9, 160-pound defendant stood up and tossed a chair toward jailer Bob Graham, who was seated in the gallery near the door. Reitz shot-putted two more chairs across the defense table and one apparently struck the judge's bench, Carbone said. No one was seriously injured although Carbone, who is about the same size as Reitz, suffered a scraped knuckle and a sore leg in the scuffle. Graham quickly joined Carbone and Deputy Prosecutor Greg Hicks ran from across the hall to help. Deputy Sheriff Thad Schultz, who happened to be next door in the judge's office, was the last to join the melee. "When I came in, there were chairs everywhere and three or four guys were rolling around on the floor," Schultz said. "They were just all in a pile. It was kind of funny, to tell you the truth." Schultz said Reitz calmed down quickly and was escorted back to jail - wearing handcuffs in addition to the leg chains he had when the scuffle began. "I think he realized he was outnumbered," Carbone said.

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