Man reports being attacked, harassed in downtown Cd'A

COEUR d’ALENE — Police are looking for at least one assailant in a robbery attempt Tuesday in downtown Coeur d’Alene that left a man injured and bloodied.

Christopher Tracy Baker, 21, said he was walking on E. Lakeside Avenue between 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. when he was assaulted by a group of people in a car and another man who was walking, carrying a skateboard.

Baker suffered a fractured nose - broken in four places - a cut eyebrow and cheek, and a bloodied mouth.

“The man approached me threatening to beat me with his skateboard if I didn’t do what he demanded,” Baker wrote on his Facebook page. “He was being followed slowly by his car and I know this was trouble.”

The man told Baker to get into the car - possibly a light-colored SUV - or to turn over his wallet. Baker refused and was attacked, but managed to escape into Lakeside Harvest Foods, formerly Peterson’s Family Foods, at 1211 E. Sherman Ave.

This is where things don’t make sense, Baker said.

He was walking home after having drinks downtown with his supervisor and fellow employees at The Coeur d’alene Resort. They were celebrating his last day at work before he headed back to college at the University of Idaho.

He has walked home many times before, but he doesn’t live anywhere near East Sherman, he said.

“I think they were trying to lead me,” he said. “I felt I was being pushed in that direction.”

According to police, the man who followed and harassed Baker struck him in the head with the skateboard leaving Baker with welts, scars and bruising. Baker was able to run, but was pursued for several blocks by the suspect. Eventually Baker escaped into Harvest Foods where employees contacted police.

The assailant is in his late teens or early 20s, police said. He is approximately 5 foot 9 inches tall,with a thin build and no facial hair. Baker told police the assailant has darker skin and may be Hispanic. The assailant had no noticeable marks or tattoos and was wearing longer dark-colored shorts, a light-colored, unbuttoned floral shirt, and a dark- colored hat.

Baker said he remembered leaving a downtown establishment before midnight and messaging friends to tell them he was walking home.

Less than two blocks away, somewhere around Third or Fourth Street, he said, the man and vehicle approached and began harassing him.

By the time he called police from the grocery store it was around 2 a.m., and he had lost his phone and his flip flops, he said.

He was harassed for two hours as he walked aimlessly in an attempt to get away from the assailant, who kept demanding money, Baker said.

At one point on the early morning hike, he remembers running up to a passing car asking for help, but the vehicle sped away.

“That’s when I knew, I’m on my own right now,” he said. “It was definitely scary.”

In his 17 years living in Coeur d’Alene, he said, he cannot recall a similar incident happening to another person.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” he said.

Coeur d’Alene Police are asking anyone with information related to his incident, to contact the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. 208-769-2320.