PL man facing charges

NORDMAN — A Priest Lake man is accused of threatening the life of a woman and punching her 11-year-old son in the face during a domestic dispute last week.

Steven David Cook is charged with aggravated assault, felony injury to a child and misdemeanor domestic battery in the presence of children.

Cook, 32, made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Thursday via videoconferencing with county jail. Judge Tera Harden appointed a public defender and entered an order prohibiting Cook from contacting the alleged victims in the case, court records show.

Cook’s bail was set at $100,000.

Sheriff’s deputies were summoned to Cook’s home in the 200 block of South Granite Bay Road shortly before 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov.19. A responding deputy encountered a woman who had fresh blood on her forehead and fresh swelling above her left eye, according to a probable cause affidavit. The woman also had stitches on the right side of her face, which she said were the result of a fall in the days leading up to the incident.

The woman told a deputy she was pushed during an argument and Cook had threatened to shoot her, a threat she did not take as credible, the affidavit said. The woman’s son said Cook punched him the face trying to defend his mother. The boy further stated that Cook repeatedly punched his mother in the face and pointed a revolver at her while her back was turned, according to the affidavit.

The alleged attack took place in the presence of her 8-year-old son and 7-week-old daughter, court documents indicate.

Cook was not present when deputies arrived, although he was later arrested on an outstanding warrant out of Kootenai County, in addition to the Bonner County charges. The Kootenai County warrant stems from a probation violation in a 2016 drunken driving case.

A preliminary hearing in the case is set for Dec. 4.