Here's the latest on this case:
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The man reportedly fired several shots while trying to take a woman into custody
By Jackson Holtz
Herald Writer
LAKE STEVENS — A bounty hunter who makes his living putting people in handcuffs wound up wearing a set Wednesday night.
Lake Stevens police arrested Nathan Hingson, 43, the bail bond recovery agent who admitted opening fire in a Lake Stevens grocery store parking lot Friday while trying to arrest a woman.
The man is being investigated for second-degree assault, a felony, Lake Stevens Police Chief Randy Celori said.
“This application of deadly force was not appropriate. It placed a considerable amount of citizens in danger,” the police chief said.
The arrest came after Lake Stevens police interviewed the woman Hingson tried, unsuccessfully, to detain, Celori said.
On Wednesday, the woman, 25, of Lake Stevens talked with a detective about the events that unfolded in the busy parking lot outside Norm’s Market on Lundeen Parkway.
The woman told police she feared for her life when a man put a 9mm pistol against the unopened window of her pickup and told her to get out or he’d shoot, Celori said.
She told police the man never identified himself as a bail recovery agent and didn’t have a badge, Celori said.
Hingson last week told The Herald that he tried to arrest the woman on outstanding warrants, and that he broke out the window of her pickup truck when she started to drive away. He said he shot twice after she tried to run him over.
Police believe Hingson fired as many as eight rounds. Detectives worked through the weekend and interviewed other witnesses who independently corroborated the woman’s account of Hingson’s conduct during Friday’s melee, Celori said. Police on Wednesday expected to book Hingson into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of assault, reckless endangerment and unlawful discharge of a firearm, Celori said.
Hingson feared for his life and was defending himself when he used his weapon, said his attorney, Julian Denes of Everett, in a letter written prior to the arrest.
Denes said Wednesday evening that he expects his client to enter a not-guilty plea.
The woman told detectives she was able to drive the pickup a few blocks before flat tires forced her to get out and run. She ducked behind a building and watched as Hingson drove into the area, then returned to the store parking lot. She hid out at a friend’s house, the police chief said.
Hingson, whose bail bond company is in Lynnwood, on Friday said he wasn’t looking for the woman, but stumbled upon her in the Lake Stevens parking lot.
Earlier this week, Andy Forster, an Everett-based bail recovery agent, negotiated a peaceful way for the woman to pay her bonds, quash her arrest warrants and secure guarantees that she’ll appear in court to face misdemeanor charges.
That cleared the way for her to talk to detectives without worrying about ending up behind bars.
Forster said he has reason to believe Hingson lured the woman to Norm’s Market on Friday.
“It was a setup. He didn’t just run into her out there,” Forster said.
Forster said when he talked to the woman on Monday, “she was scared for her life at that point.”
On Wednesday morning, friends of the woman posted bond for her at Liberty Bail Bonds of Everett, manager Wayne Marshall said.
The bond company quashed the nearly $23,000 in arrest warrants the woman had outstanding and rescheduled court dates in Lynnwood, Everett and Marysville, he said.
The woman still owes money to Bail Bond by Nate, the business Hingson owns with his wife, Marshall said.
Hingson also is being investigated by the state Department of Licensing, the agency that regulates the bail bond industry.
In February 2007, the state accused Hingson of failing to keep adequate records, committing “material fraud” and failing to maintain a trust account for his business. Under a negotiated agreement, Hingson’s bail bond agency license was suspended and he was ordered to take accounting classes, records show.
The state issues different bail bond licenses, some for operating a business, others for issuing bonds and a third for bounty hunters.
Hingson has a valid license to act as a bounty hunter.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or
jholtz@heraldnet.com.
Source:
http://www.heraldnet.com
