$25,000 bail for suspect in severe beating at Olympia gas station

Bail was set at $25,000 for a transient man accused of savagely beating another man in Olympia.

David Wayne Cox, 52, appeared Monday in Thurston County Superior Court on one count of second-degree assault. Arraignment was set for April 19.

Court documents give the following account:

At about 10 p.m. Saturday (April 2), Olympia police responded to a call about two men fighting at 3505 Pacific Ave. SE near the Fones Road intersection. The caller said one man was unconscious and laying on the ground.

With help from a K-9 unit, police began searching for a suspect who fit the description given. Officers eventually saw a shirtless Cox stumbling next to the Ross Dress for Less store.

When asked if he knew the victim, Cox replied that the man was a longtime friend whom he had seen earlier that night. He would not answer where or when he had seen the man.

Officers reported that Cox had dried blood on his body and clothing along with scratch marks on his back. When asked why he had blood on him, Cox told police he had fallen down.

A witness told police that the two men had been sitting on the curb outside a gas station and appeared to be laughing before they suddenly started swinging at each other. The witness said the victim was “tossed around like a rag doll.”

The victim was being treated at Providence St. Peter Hospital in the intensive care unit. A nurse told police that the man had suffered multiple fractures in his face, including a broken nose, along with lacerations over each eye and a broken rib.

Police say surveillance video from the gas station shows Cox pulling the man from the side of the building before dropping him on the ground, kicking his head and torso, then walking away.

Cox has a criminal history dating back to 1984 that includes at least five prior assault convictions. He also has a bench warrant out of Mason County for criminal trespass and public urination/defecation.

This story was originally published April 4, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "$25,000 bail for suspect in severe beating at Olympia gas station."