By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A field worker from DeGoede Bulb Farm said a supervisor swung a sharpened garden hoe like a baseball bat at his head after he threatened to tell the boss how the man was treating employees.
Noe Lopez Cruz spoke through an interpreter in Lewis County Superior Court yesterday afternoon as a trial began on a second-degree assault charge.
Jaime Roberto Hernandez, 53, of Mossyrock, was arrested after the Aug. 18 incident at the Mossyrock-area farm which left Cruz with a laceration behind his left ear.
Deputy Prosecutor Kjell Warner questioned Cruz yesterday and then Deputy Jason Zimmerman who contacted Cruz at his Mossyrock residence that day.
Zimmerman said he then questioned Hernandez who told him it was only a verbal argument.
“He said Noe came at him, and when Noe came at him he had the hoe extended and Noe ran into it,” Zimmerman said.
Centralia attorney Don McConnell is representing Hernandez.
Lewis County Superior Court’s first jury trial of the new year was set to resume at 9:30 this morning.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter