Man Who Couldn't Stand Trial Now Charged with Threatening Governor Bob Ferguson Over Bus Routes to Olympia

It is a rare day in the Pacific Northwest when the bureaucracy produces a result this perfectly absurd. Nathaniel David Foster a man who was previously ruled incompetent to stand trial in Spokane County is back in the news. He now faces a charge in King County Superior Court for threatening Governor Bob Ferguson. There is a certain irony in a man who once lacked the understanding of criminal proceedings now plotting a trip to the state capital.

The investigation began after Foster allegedly told a caseworker at a Seattle hospital on July 19 that he intended to travel to Olympia to harm the governor. Prosecutors say he told Seattle police officers and Washington State Patrol detectives that he would look for security weaknesses around the governor’s mansion. He even cited specific bus routes he could use to reach the city according to the reports. It is a plan that requires both a map and a firm grasp of public transit.

Foster was arrested in September 2024 near the intersection of West Riverside Avenue and North Division Street in Spokane. At that time he was involved in a scene that sounds like a bad performance art piece. He was seen lighting a fire to paper before throwing it in a trash can and throwing beer bottles at a Spokane Transit Authority supervisor. The actions led to charges for assault malicious mischief and reckless burning which were eventually dismissed.