Sumner Police Blotter: Woman Punches Officer, Man Caught Shooting Gun Near White River

MARCH 30, 2012

HIT AND RUN, DOWNED POWER LINES

Just after midnight, several electrical wires were reported down around the 1800 block of Main St.

Police secured the scene and found that a power pole had been snapped at the base and was leaning over the other wires. It appeared as though a driver hit the pole and drove away.

Police shut down the entire 1800 block and diverted traffic. Puget Sound Energy arrived on the scene and estimated damage to the pole to be about $5,000.

While police waited for PSE crews to arrive, they noted one tire track on the wet grass leading up to the pole. It appears that whatever vehicle had caused the damage never stopped moving after the collision. Police located several pieces of car debris left by the suspect vehicle. Some of the pieces where white or chrome colored.

Police searched the area for a damaged vehicle but none was found.

DUI, INTERFERENCE

Officers responded to the Shell Station on 166th Ave. for a report of men fighting in the parking lot. The caller said he saw two of the men leaving in a Toyota and the others left in a Mustang.

When police arrived the saw the Toyota pull out of the station, they also noticed the other car leaving at the same time but couldn’t track it down.

The 32 year-old driver of the Toyota told police that nothing happened and they were just heading home. He appeared intoxicated and acknowledged, “it’s obvious we’ve been drinking.”

Police talked to his passenger, who said that the two men drove to the Shell Station to get beer. The passenger asked the men in the other car for a cigarette and got into an argument with them. He kneed the Mustang as it sped away and attempted to chase it down the street.

Police gave the driver a sobriety test and he yelled at the officers the whole time, trying to interfere with the test.

He told the officers, “I can’t do this while I’ve been drinking” and wouldn’t take a blow test because he said, “I wouldn’t pass it anyway.”

The man was arrested for DUI and was more than double the legal limit.

His passenger also was heckling police and kept repeating that he was “a criminal justice major” and knew what to do. He was threatened with arrest for interfering. He wouldn’t stop, so police put him in handcuffs. He tried to apologize but wouldn’t sit down in the car.

While being transferred to jail, the passenger attempted to assault the officers, and was charged with assault.

APRIL 1, 2012

ILLEGALLY DISCHARGING FIREARM WITHIN CITY LIMITS

Officers were dispatched to a report of gun shots on the 14000 block of 8th St E. The caller was a security officer and reported a suspicious vehicle parked in the Potelco parking lot. While speaking with dispatch, the caller could hear a man and woman arguing in the background. She heard the man yelling at the woman, who began urinating on the truck. They appeared to be fine and it appeared like they were leaving, but then the security guard heard a pop sound that sounded like a gun and the man walked away.

While at the scene, officers heard several more shots go off near the rear of the building on the access road near the river. They used night vision and could see the man shooting a handgun toward the river, away form their location.

The man walked toward officers with an empty bottle of alcohol in one hand and the gun in the other.

Police asked him why he was out shooting a gun in the middle of the night within city limits and he said he thought he was in the county and was just blowing off steam, for no apparent reason. He had over $5,000 in cash in his pocket because he said he didn’t trust banks and the money belonged to his customers – he was a licensed medicinal marijuana dispenser. He also was in possession of marijuana, which was confiscated.

The woman told police they had gone shopping in Auburn and that she didn’t know he had her pistol on him. She denied urinating on the car and said she was trying to get home.

The man was arrested for firing a gun within city limits and his marijuana was returned after he was let out of jail.

APRIL 2, 2012

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ASSAULT OF POLICE OFFICER

Police responded to a domestic violence in progress on the 1500 block of Wood Ave. The female caller said a man had assaulted her and he had a gun.

Police arrived and spoke to the man. He admitted to fighting with his girlfriend because he was tired of her drinking and he told her he thought she had a problem. They had been living together about four months but had only known each other for about a month prior. She became aggressive with him and he tried to leave. She pulled his T-shirt, bit his arm and punched him in the face. Police did not locate a gun.

The woman said he did not hit her and she had no evidence of injury. The man had bite marks in his arm and looked like he had been punched in the face.

The officers told the woman to wait outside for them, but she got angry and punched one of the officers in the shoulder. She was immediately put into handcuffs and arrested for domestic assault and assault of a police officer. The officer was uninjured.

APRIL 4, 2012

ASSAULT

A Lake Tapps resident came to the Sumner Police Department to report that he was beaten up. He had a swollen nose and it was bleeding. He owned a property on the 16000 block of 64th St E. and he was working there with the man who assaulted him.

He said the two began arguing over “something stupid,” involving other tenants at the properties he manages. He told the man to leave, but he wouldn’t, so the property manager decided to walk down the stairs and pass the man at the door. He said the man refused to let him by and blocked the walkway. Their shoulders touched and the man said, “don’t ever touch me,” and started punching the man in the face. The property owner said he never touched the man and went immediately to the police statin to report the assault.

He was transported to the hospital.

Police went to the residence and made contact with the other man, who answered the front door. The man told police he was working with the property owner on his house and said he is actually living at the residence and work is his way of paying rent. He said the two men have been friends for years and he has stayed in several houses that the two men fixed up together.

He said they started arguing because the landlord treats his tenants badly, and the man told him he wouldn’t be intimidated by him, like the other tenants are. He said the property owner came down the stairs and “chested” him with his belly and chest. He warned the man not to touch him again, but he did it again. The man defended himself by punching the man in the upper portion of his body. He wouldn’t admit to hitting him in the face.

Police called the man at the hospital, who demanded his tenant move out. Police said they weren’t able to evict him, since they had an agreement that the man could live there. He was also advised that it appeared to police that he started the argument and that the charges of assault would go to the City Attorney.