By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A 41-year-old Packwood man was arrested at gunpoint yesterday after he allegedly forced his companion at knife point to drive toward Randle, while being pursued by sheriff’s deputies.
The 22-year-old woman from Morton, whom he was dating, was finally able to escape their vehicle near Kiona Creek Road and run to the safety of a nearby patrol car, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
It happened around 3 p.m. beginning at the Glenoma Grocery, on the 8000 block of U.S. Highway 12.
Zachery H. Bynum was booked into the Lewis County Jail for multiple offenses, according to the sheriff’ office. The young woman was taken to Morton General Hospital with cuts, bruises and scrapes, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said.
Brown said it started with a call to the grocery about a fight, when a man was seen forcing a woman into the driver’s seat of a truck, choking her and slamming her face into the steering wheel. How they came to be together at the store, Brown said she didn’t know.
When law enforcement arrived, he allegedly forced her to drive away, heading east on U.S. Highway 12, holding a large knife – described as a mini machete – to her neck, according to the sheriff’s office.
After their pickup truck ran over spike strips set out about four miles down the road, a struggle ensued but the woman managed to get away, according to Brown.
Brown said Bynum was uncooperative and combative and finally taken into custody after a Taser was deployed. He was booked for first-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping and eluding, she said.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter