A Renton man was charged with first-degree assault after he allegedly stabbed a man in the neck near JP’s Barroom.
On Sept. 4, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) charged Jamel Michael Quarterman, 36, of Renton, for first-degree assault for allegedly stabbing a man in the neck at about 9:33 p.m. Aug. 31, outside of JP’s Barroom, 214 Williams Ave. South, Renton. According to charging documents, the man who was stabbed was yelling things before Quarterman and a friend approached the man, but the friend attempted to get Quarterman to leave the situation.
According to spokesperson Casey McNerthney, the KCPAO asked that Quarterman be held on a $1 million bail, but the first appearance court set his bail at $500,000. According to the King County Adult and Juvenile Detention jail lookup portal, Quarterman remains at the Maleng Regional Justice Center awaiting court proceedings.
Court documents state that on Sept. 9, Quarterman entered a plea of not guilty. According to the KCPAO, Quarterman’s charge has a weapon enhancement, which, if he is convicted, could add two mandatory years to his sentence.
DETAILS OF THE CASE
At about 9:33 p.m. Aug. 31, officers responded to a report of a stabbing at JP’s Barroom. According to documents, officers found a man just inside the front door of the bar with employees holding a towel on the right side of the stabbed man’s neck to stop the bleeding.
According to documents, a security guard who witnessed the incident stated that he saw the stabbed man yelling obscenities across the street from the bar for about five minutes. The security guard said that Quarterman and a friend were sitting in a convertible parked near the stabbed man and then got out of the car before Quarterman began to exchange words with the stabbed man.
The security guard said that the stabbed man began to walk away from Quarterman and his friend when they began speaking to him aggressively. According to documents, the security guard said that Quarterman’s friend then said he didn’t want anything more to do with the situation, and he walked away.
Documents state that the security guard saw Quarterman swing at the stabbed man and say something about also having a knife. The security guard said that the stabbed man then immediately grabbed his throat and walked across the street to the bar after Quarterman swung at him, documents state, and the security guard said that he never saw a knife in anyone’s hand.
According to documents, another witness said that he saw Quarterman’s friend try to stop Quarterman before Quarterman swung at the stabbed man. The other witness also said that he did not see anyone holding a knife.
According to documents, not far from where the alleged incident occurred, an officer stopped the convertible in which Quarterman and his friend were riding. A witness to the alleged stabbing then identified Quarterman as the man who swung at the stabbed man, and Quarterman was taken into custody, according to documents.
Quarterman said that he did not want to speak with officers, but he then began to make unsolicited comments about claiming self-defense in the altercation, stating that the stabbed man had a knife. Documents also state that while Quarterman was being removed from the officer’s patrol car, they noticed blood on Quarterman’s right shoe, as well as on the right pocket of his jeans.
The knife was found along the route where the convertible drove from the scene of the incident, about 0.7 miles away. According to documents, wet blood was on the clip, the handle and the blade of the knife.
Documents state that the stabbed man was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where he underwent three surgeries and possibly suffered a stroke. As of Sept. 3, the stabbed man was conscious and able to communicate, but the left side of his body is paralyzed, and a long-term prognosis for recovery is unknown.
