Texting dispute turns violent; man arrested

COEUR d'ALENE - A Post Falls man was arrested Thursday after a text message argument with a coworker took an allegedly violent turn.

James Hoffman, 48, told Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies he was having a work-related dispute with another man via text message around 9 p.m. According to the responding deputy's incident report, when the argument began including attacks on the man's wife and daughter, he felt the need to act.

Hoffman, who allegedly admitted to the deputy he had consumed five 15-ounce beers before the incident, then drove to the coworker's house and brought a collapsible baton with him. The occupants of the house told a deputy they saw Hoffman's truck approaching their home at a high rate of speed and walked onto a second floor deck.

"(The coworker) said Hoffman got out of his vehicle with a weapon in his hand," the deputy wrote in his report. "...Hoffman extended the baton and started moving towards the house on foot, so (the coworker) ran downstairs and grabbed his bear spray."

The report adds that another person in the home closed and locked the front door while the coworker was retrieving the bear spray and quickly testing to make sure it worked.

"He said he heard Hoffman break the glass door as he ran back upstairs and saw that Hoffman had the baton at a high ready position with the baton in his hand held above his head ready to strike," the deputy's report states.

The coworker told deputies he sprayed Hoffman in the face with the bear spray "as soon as he saw the baton raised."

"Everyone in the residence confirmed they were afraid for their lives," the report states. "(One woman) even told me she thought Hoffman had a gun the entire time until after he left."

Hoffman allegedly fled from the residence after being sprayed and left in his vehicle. Deputies apprehended him close to the Coeur d'Alene home where the incident took place and placed him under arrest.

He was booked into the Kootenai County jail and charged with burglary, aggravated assault, and driving under the influence.