Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Man in ‘manic state’ hits people outside library

Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police and Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One.

A 26-year-old Gig Harbor man, who appeared to be experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis, slapped or hit several people outside the Gig Harbor Library on Point Fosdick Drive on the afternoon of March 19.

Officers responding to the call found the 26-year-old Gig Harbor man throwing items into the roadway and disrupting traffic. When they attempted to speak with him, he ran through the parking lot of the nearby shopping center.

While running, he took a book from a passerby and hit her in the head with it. He also punched or kicked vehicles as he ran.

Officers eventually located the man inside an Uptown restaurant, where he “appeared to be in a manic state.” The officers wrote that they knew him from previous incidents and were aware that he is prone to manic episodes.

Officers took him to the Pierce County Jail, where corrections officers booked him on suspicion of malicious mischief and assault. Gig Harbor police notified a designated crisis responder.

County posts information about Key Center incident

Pierce County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a man on suspicion of violating a protection order, harassment and resisting arrest following an incident that caused a large law enforcement response to Key Center on March 4.

The sheriff’s office posted about the incident on its blog this week.

The male suspect reportedly had threatened to kill a woman who had obtained a domestic violence protection order against him. Another 911 caller told law enforcement that the suspect told witnesses he had a large knife and intended to kill family members.

When a deputy spoke with the man in a parking lot in key center, the suspect produced what the sheriff’s office called a “large machete.”

Deputies called in a designated crisis responder, trained in dealing with people experiencing mental health or substance abuse crises. The suspect still wouldn’t cooperate. Deputies attempted to use pepper spray to subdue the suspect, who was still barricaded inside his truck with a machete, but the spray did not affect him.

Eventually, deputies broke the window on the truck and grabbed the suspect’s arms when he reached out through the busted window.

He was arrested and taken to the Pierce County Jail.

 Illegally parked car keyed

A Gig Harbor woman who parked her Volkswagen in a no-parking zone in front of Finholm’s Market on North Harborview Drive was dismayed to find someone had keyed her vehicle.

The woman told police she parked the vehicle at about 12:15 p.m. on March 16. She knew it was parked illegally, but she needed to help an elderly person into a nearby coffee shop.

Inside the coffee shop, a woman angrily complained about the illegally parked VW. The Volkswagen owner explained the situation, but the other woman did not seem placated.

When the driver returned to her car about an hour later, she found a sizable scrape in the paint on the side of the car. Surveilance video from a nearby business showed the woman who complained lurking near the Volkswagon and taking pictures, but it did not show her keying the car.