A man wanted in connected with a domestic violence case near Vale was taken into custody Thursday, June 18, after a four-hour standoff with police in Jamieson.
Andrew Stewart, 38, of Vale, was arrested following an incident that drew the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police, Ontario Police Department detectives, Vale Fire and Ambulance and the Ontario Fire Department, according to Malheur County Sheriff Brian Wolfe.
He said police arrested Stewart after investigating a domestic dispute on East Fifth Avenue that occurred Wednesday night.
He said that the victim escaped from the home and contacted another person to come get her. When the man arrived to take the victim away, an attacker shattered the man’s windshield with a hammer, got into his Mercedes Benz and began ramming the other vehicle as the victim and man were leaving.
Wolfe said police identified Stewart as the suspect and about 9:30 a.m. Thursday found his car by a camp trailer off East 12th Avenue East in the Jamieson area. There appeared to be somebody in the trailer, but the person wouldn’t respond to deputies’ calls, he said. Deputies knocked on the door, heard “some rustling or what appeared to be somebody moving inside the camp trailer,” and used PA systems to direct Stewart to come out.
At about 1:30 p.m., police deployed gas into the trailer. Stewart then exited the trailer and was arrested without incident, said Wolfe.
On Friday, Stewart was charged in Malheur County Circuit Court with attempted second-degree assault constituting domestic violence, attempted second-degree assault, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon for using the hammer, and one count of first-degree criminal mischief, all felonies. He also was charged with menacing constituting domestic violence, menacing, two counts of recklessly endangering another person and interfering with a police officer, all misdemeanors.
Stewart is being held in the Malheur County Jail on $200,000 security. He is scheduled to be arraigned on an indictment on Friday, June 25.
News tip? Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian by email at [email protected] or call 541-473-3377.
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