Police arrest man for sledgehammer attack

Published 1:23 pm Tuesday, August 14, 2018

HERMISTON — Paul Thomas Cazares, 26, of Umatilla faces assault and other charges after police reported he punched a man and attacked him with a sledgehammer.

Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said at about 11:52 p.m. Friday a man, identified as Cazares, walked uninvited through the front door of an apartment at 320 E. Cherry Ave., screamed at a 59-year-old man inside and called him a snitch.

Cazares reportedly punched the man while he was sitting on the couch, he stood to defend himself, according to Edmiston, and Cazares picked up a nearby 4-pound sledgehammer. Cazares made the man sit down, the police chief reported, and struck his leg “several times causing visible injury and pain.”

Cazares threatened to kill the other two members of the household if they called police.

Hermiston officers responded to the residence on a call for a trespasser and recognized Cazares, who has a history of arrests and convictions, including for disorderly conduct and harassment earlier this year. Officers tried to arrest Cazares, but he pulled away and refused to comply with orders, according to Edmiston, and officers took him to the ground.

An ambulance took the assault victim to Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston, for treatment of minor injuries, Edmiston reported, and police took Cazares to the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton.

The district attorney’s office Tuesday afternoon arraigned Cazares on initial charges of first-degree burglary, second-degree assault, and unlawful use of a weapon, all felonies, and misdemeanors of harassment and resisting arrest. Court records also show Circuit Judge Dan Hill set bail for Cazares at $200,000.

Cazares’s next court proceeding in the case is a probable cause hearing Monday morning.