Community Police & Fire

Man throws punches at Gig Harbor officer, delivery driver following road rage incident

Gig Harbor police fought with a 44-year-old local man in a retail parking lot in Gig Harbor North following a road rage incident on Sept. 20. Police cited him for three counts of fourth-degree assault.

The incident began when a 66-year-old delivery van driver backed out of a driveway in a nearby residential neighborhood. She didn’t see the black passenger car driving down the road, causing a near-collision.

The delivery driver continued with her route, pulling into the Albertsons parking lot. She noticed the black car approaching.

The driver of the black car got out of it and approached the delivery van, yelling angrily. The delivery driver’s 24-year-old granddaughter, a passenger in the van, got out to defend her grandma. The van driver got out, too, but forgot to put her vehicle in park. It rolled into the black car, causing minor damage and further enraging the 44-year-old Gig Harbor man.

Witnesses told police he “aggressively advanced toward the young lady and started throwing punches.” The woman defended herself, and in the scuffle someone knocked over the 66-year-old grandma.

When a Gig Harbor officer intervened, the 44-year-old turned his rage on him.

The officer described the man as “swinging wildly.” The officer hit the suspect’s nose with a right cross, but the man continued fighting. The suspect eventually resorted to grabbing the officer’s hat, wadding it up and throwing it away.

The officer wrote in his report that he got the suspect in a headlock before someone — possibly the suspect’s wife — pulled him off.

Once everyone was separated, the officer checked on the condition of the fallen 66-year-old delivery driver. The suspects fled while the officer did that.

That evening, the suspect and his wife turned themselves in to police. They claimed that the grandmother “flipped the bird” following the original near-collision, making the male suspect angry. They also said the granddaughter escalated the incident by getting out of the van, and that the suspect became angry at the officer because he used his cell phone to document their license plate.

Officers issued a criminal citation and a court date to the 44-year-old man. They cited him for three counts of fourth degree assault.