Employees say burglary suspect had scoped out restaurant

The suspected burglar who was shot at by Spokane police before being apprehended in a violent struggle this week apparently had cased the restaurant he was found inside of, new documents suggest.

Cephas Parham, 39, was twice seen in the previous week at the Peking North restaurant but never purchased anything, employees told police.

Then on Monday morning, the restaurant’s owners allegedly found him inside the closed business about 7 a.m. gathering up valuables and wielding a fake gun, which led to a confrontation with police that included several shots being fired.

None hit Parham, who is accused of trying to flee and then fighting with officers during the arrest. He was ordered held Tuesday at the Spokane County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

The Spokane Police Department has not named the officer involved in the incident, but court documents state that Officer James Erickson chased Parham and got in a fight with him. The documents say Erickson believed Parham was armed with a firearm but do not specifically state that Erickson fired his weapon.

The documents state that Parham hit and elbowed Erickson in the head.

The owner of the restaurant told police that zippered money bags, a flat-screen television, two laptops and karaoke equipment were missing from the restaurant. The missing items could be seen inside a blue Ford Explorer parked near the restaurant that Parham had recently purchased, according to court documents.

An employee at Muffler Mart, which is located just to the north of Peking North, told police he saw the north door of the restaurant open when he arrived at work around 7:15 a.m., which was unusual. A few minutes after police arrived he said he saw a man run out the door with an officer in pursuit. The two ran out of his view, according to court documents.

The police department’s Chronic Offender unit had been attempting to work with Parham, who has 29 felony convictions, said Officer Kyle Yrigollen. However, Parham had not been cooperative and was difficult to find, Yrigollen said, and officers often had to cease their efforts to work with Parham as he was being investigated by the Regional Auto Theft Task Force.

At the time of the reported burglary on Monday, Parham was out of jail on $50,000 bond pending trial after being accused of stealing his ex-girlfriend’s car last year after he was released from prison. In that incident he led police on a high-speed chase before crashing the stolen car and fleeing on foot.

However, his ex-girlfriend’s mother filed an affidavit in the case stating Parham had only borrowed the car, which was registered in her name, and that she liked and trusted him. She also stated that Parham had been trying to turn his life around since his most recent release from prison.

A warrant was issued for his arrest in that case after Parham failed to appear at a hearing on July 10.