Man charged with witness intimidation

SANDPOINT —­ A Priest Lake man is facing a felony witness intimidation charge following back-to-back arrests on Friday.

Timothy Alan Best faces additional misdemeanor charges of battery, malicious injury to property and disturbing the peace. He was ordered held on $5,000 bail on Monday, Bonner County Magistrate Court records show. Judge Debra Heise declined to find probable cause for the witness intimidation charge, which prompts the prosecution to put up additional evidence in order for the charge to survive.

Best, 49, of Coolin, is accused of throwing a bucket of water on a couple and their 5-five-year-old child, who were playing bongos at the time. Best told investigators that he meant to splash the adults because they were squatting on property that belong to a friend of his off Eastriver Road, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Best was arrested but promptly bonded out and returned to the property. The alleged victims in the earlier battery said Best was outside their trailer yelling and hitting it with a sledgehammer. They also reported hearing gunfire, the affidavit said.

A criminal complaint alleges Best was attempting to influence the couple’s testimony in the battery case when he returned to the property.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.