A Vancouver man accused of holding a 7-year-old family member hostage during a 15-hour police standoff appeared in Clark County Superior Court Monday on suspicion of multiple domestic violence crimes.
Michael D. Wright Sr., 45, berated Deputy Prosecutor Julie Carmena as she informed Judge David Gregerson of the allegations against Wright.
“Why don’t you (say) it over 20 more times?” Wright shouted.
In a subsequent outburst, he repeatedly accused a relative of committing a crime and alleged that police had done nothing about it.
He continued to shout as corrections officers forcibly removed him from the courtroom.
Gregerson held Wright in the Clark County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail and appointed Vancouver Defenders to defend him. He is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 31 on charges of first-degree assault domestic violence, fourth-degree assault domestic violence, four counts of unlawful imprisonment and interfering with reporting a domestic violence crime.
He has a history of noncompliance with law enforcement. Court records indicate he tried to hang himself with a seat belt during a previous transport to the jail.
The standoff between Wright and law enforcement began at 5:15 p.m. Friday and ended at about 8 a.m. Saturday. Wright and his young hostage were holed up in the garage at Wright’s ranch-style home in the 3700 block of Northeast 143rd Avenue, in the Parkside neighborhood.
Vancouver police say they were contacted at 5 p.m. Friday by a woman who came to the police station to say Wright had threatened and assaulted family members earlier in the day. She said he was not allowing them to leave the home.
Wright allegedly struck his longtime live-in girlfriend, Tina Trevino, in the side of her head and chest, leaving a mark on the left side of her face under her eye. He also slapped Trevino’s daughter and held a knife to her throat, according to a court affidavit by Vancouver police Officer Missy Skeeter.
He told the daughter that “if something happened to him, she would be the first to die,” Skeeter wrote.
After the woman visited the precinct station, patrol officers responded to the residence, north of Evergreen High School. They were able to make verbal contact with Wright, who refused to come out and talk with officers. Instead, he remained in his garage, along with a 7-year-old boy whom he would not release and the family’s three pit bulls, according to court documents.
A patrol officer summoned the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT team, which surrounded the property, and the standoff continued all night before Wright eventually surrendered.
More than 30 officers were reported to be involved, including officers from Portland.
The boy and the dogs were not harmed, police said.
