Police blotter Posted by Kimberly Jacobson | Sep 10, 2012 | 713 views

A 21-year-old Anacortes man faces assault charges after punching a restaurant employee because his order was taking too long.

Police responded to a restaurant in the 1300 block of Commercial Avenue around 2:54 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 1 regarding the report that a customer had assaulted an employee. It was learned a male passenger in a vehicle at the drive-through window had gotten belligerent and hostile toward the staff because his order was taking “too long.”

When the man was informed he would get a refund but would have to leave he screamed profanities and threatened to harm the employee. The man got out of the vehicle, pushed his way into the restaurant and punched the male employee in the face. The man then got back into the vehicle and fled the scene.

The employee went to the emergency room and learned he had several fractures.

Employees got the license number of the involved vehicle and police later identified and spoke with the driver who confirmed he had been in the vehicle when his passenger assaulted the employee.

Further investigation led police to identify the passenger, a 21-year-old Anacortes man, who told police he was “really drunk” and “didn’t remember many details.” The suspect did allegedly admit remembering he had been angry at the employee and yelling obscenities, and he had hit the employee.

Police are waiting for the victim’s medical records before filing the appropriate assault charges.

Among the other 170 cases handled by Anacortes police during the previous week:

Saturday, Sept. 1

• A 21-year-old Anacortes man was transported by paramedics to the emergency room for treatment for a possible drug overdose. A friend arrived at the man’s apartment in the 1100 block of 24th Street and found the man semiconscious and struggling to breathe.

He then passed out and the friend called 911. Police found some drug paraphernalia in the home that was consistent with being told the man was a heroin user.

• Police checked on a 30-year-old man at an apartment after his friend reported he sent her despondent text messages saying that the “world was going to end in 20 minutes.” Coincidentally, the friend told police she received the messages about 20 minutes earlier.

The man had reportedly based his predicted demise on the reading from a tarot card. Police found the man sleeping in his apartment and he was fine.

Sunday, Sept. 2

• An officer stopped a car on Oakes Avenue driven by a 27-year-old Anacortes man for having a defective headlight around 1:15 a.m. A records check revealed he had a felony warrant out of San Juan County for a possession with intent to deliver dangerous drug charge. He was arrested and booked into the Island County jail.

• Police were dispatched to a home after witnesses reported seeing a couple fighting in the front yard around 1:20 p.m. Police arrived and spoke with a 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl at the home and learned they had been involved in a dating relationship. The man had bloody scuff marks on his hands but he denied any physical fight occurred and refused to cooperate with further questioning.

The girl had bloody knuckles and allegedly admitted she argued with the man, but she also claimed there was no physical fight. However, three witnesses all reported seeing the girl attack the man by pushing and hitting him and the man only tried to fend off the girl.

The girl was arrested on a charge of domestic violence assault. She screamed and struggled with officers while being arrested. She was booked into juvenile detention.

• A 21-year-old Anacortes man suffered a broken leg after he rode his skateboard into the side of a car traveling in the 1400 block of 41st Street. The driver of the car, his passenger and the skateboarder all agreed the skateboarder entered the roadway from a driveway without stopping and struck the side of the moving car.

• An officer stopped a pickup in the 1300 block of Commercial Avenue for having a burned-out headlight around 10:54 p.m. The driver, a 21-year-old Anacortes man, smelled strongly of intoxicants and had watery, bloodshot eyes. He said he had “a couple of beers” at a downtown bar earlier.

He failed field sobriety tests and was arrested on a charge of DUI. He became angry and allegedly complained he was “not even that drunk.” He was taken to the police station where he refused to take the breath test. He was cited for DUI and released to his father.

• An 18-year-old Fidalgo Island man was booked into jail on charges of eluding, DUI, underage drinking, hit and run, and illegal possession of marijuana after he fled from an officer who tried to stop his pickup for failing to stop for a stop sign on K Avenue at 12th Street around 11:49 p.m.

The pickup ran eight stop signs as it sped south on N Avenue at a speed of more than 70 mph. The vehicle went over the curb and sidewalk on 22nd Street and ran over a traffic sign near the back of the police station. The pickup drove through a ditch and then through the back parking lot of the police station and into the hospital parking lot before coming back out and stopping on 24th Street due to having a flat tire.

The driver was arrested at gunpoint. He smelled strongly of intoxicants and was very unsteady on his feet. Police found two baggies of marijuana in plain view on the seat of the pickup. The man allegedly admitted to smoking marijuana and drinking beer and vodka earlier.

The man told police he could have gotten away if he had “really tried” and he had driven intoxicated in Anacortes since he was “in the seventh grade.” He provided breath samples that were significantly over the legal limit prior to his booking.

Monday, Sept. 3

• A car left parked at Washington Park for more than a week was reported vandalized after its owner, a Bainbridge Island resident, discovered the paint had been damaged. It appeared some type of caustic or acidic liquid had been poured on the car causing the paint to bubble and peel away. No other vehicles in the lot were damaged.

The victim speculated her political bumper stickers might have been offensive to someone.

• Police are investigating a burglary complaint in which a 15-year-old girl returned to her home on G Avenue in the afternoon and found an unknown man crouched down in her bedroom holding a cell phone to his ear. The girl screamed and the man fled out of the back door.

Police checked the area but were unable to locate the suspect, who was described as a younger white male with short curly brown hair wearing a navy-colored ball cap backwards, basketball shorts and a dark T-shirt.

Tuesday, Sept. 4

• Officers checking on the report of fireworks in the area of the 1200 block of 18th Street and the sound of tires possibly being deflated found a fire extinguisher that had been discharged and saw two men running through yards and jumping fences in the area around 2:55 a.m.

The men ignored police commands to stop. One of them, a 19-year-old Anacortes man, was caught by an officer after the man fell from a chain-link fence. The man smelled of intoxicants and allegedly admitted he had been drinking vodka.

The man was taken to the police station where he threw up and provided a breath sample that showed he had been drinking heavily. He faces charges of underage drinking and resisting arrest.

The second man, an 18-year-old Anacortes resident, was caught a short distance away and he also smelled strongly of intoxicants. The man was uncooperative and told the officer that the officer “better not lie or that would be purgatory.” When asked if he meant “perjury” the man said “maybe” and that it was the officer’s “job to know that.” He was arrested on a charge of underage drinking and booked into jail as the drinking offense violated the terms of his release from a previous offense.

• Police went to a home in the 2000 block of 10th Street after receiving a tip that two 17-year-old Silverdale boys who were runaways were at the home. One of the boys also had a felony warrant for burglary out of Kitsap County and another warrant out of Skagit Superior Court.

Both boys were found at the home and taken into custody. The boy with the warrant was booked into juvenile detention and the other boy was turned over to Child Protective Services as he was a dependent of the state and his foster parent was unable to pick him up.

Wednesday, Sept. 5

• An Anacortes teen reported his Trek bicycle had just been stolen while he was loading some belongings into a vehicle on Seafarers Way and that he was chasing after the suspect. The teen chased the suspect for a short distance but then lost sight of him. A witness to the theft later reported he believed the stolen bike was outside a grocery store in the 900 block of 11th Street.

The bike was recovered at the store but the suspect remains unknown. The suspect was described as a white male with blond “clean cut” hair, approximately 6 feet and 190 pounds, 35-40 years of age, wearing tan shorts, a ligh- colored shirt, and sunglasses.

Thursday, Sept. 6

• An open window was believed to have been the point of entry into a camper that was burglarized at a home in the 3400 block of West Sixth Street. Missing from the camper was a blue “American Explorer” bag that contained miscellaneous gold jewelry valued at about $450 and assorted liquor including several bottles of Patron Silver tequila totaling about $575.

• Police arrested a 26-year-old man at his home in the 2900 block of Q Avenue on a felony warrant out of Skagit County Superior Court for previous charges of residential burglary and violation of a protection order. He was booked into jail.

Friday, Sept. 7

• A $500 red Trek 24 speed mountain bike was stolen from behind a coffee business in the 1700 block of Commercial Avenue. The victim was an employee of the business and had parked the bike while at work. It was not locked.