Kent Police arrested a 26-year-old man for investigation of aiming a firearm in connection with a road rage dispute between two vehicles on the West Hill.
Officers received a 911 call from a driver that a passenger in a vehicle had aimed a handgun at him at about 10:33 a.m. Dec. 28 near South 260th Street and Pacific Highway South, according to the police report.
The incident started at a gas station at South 272nd Street and Pacific Highway when a sports utility vehicle reportedly blocked the path of a Hyundai as the driver tried to leave the parking lot.
A woman driving the Hyundai honked her horn to get the SUV to move and then she tried to pull around the vehicle.
The 26-year-old man, a passenger in the Hyundai, told officers that the man driving the SUV gave him the middle finger so he flipped off the SUV driver in response. The vehicles each headed south on Pacific Highway and ended up at the Fred Meyer store. The 55-year-old driver of the SUV told police to go after the Hyundai as it left the parking lot.
Police spotted the Hyundai and pulled the car over along Pacific Highway. Officers found a .380-caliber handgun in the glove box. The man denied he had pointed the gun at anyone. Officers noted that the gun had not been fired.
Assault
Police arrested a 30-year-old man for investigation of fourth-degree assault, third-degree malicious mischief and resisting arrest after a domestic dispute between two men at about 9:20 p.m. Dec. 25 at an apartment in the 1000 block of North Central Avenue.
The man allegedly bit the other man on the calf and forearm as well as broke a mirror and other items, according to the police report.
A neighbor called police after hearing screams from an upstairs apartment. Officers also heard screams when they arrived at the complex.
Police pounded on the apartment door, which a man opened. The officers said two men were in the apartment and one had blood on his lip.
The 30-year-old man had accused a 29-year-old man of cheating on him with a neighbor and the two started to argue, the younger man told officers. The older man started to throw and break things in anger and a struggle began and the one man bit the other man. The men have dated for about a year.
Officers found broken glass, a mirror, a table and a television scattered across the living room floor.
The older man admitted to breaking items but told police he bit the other man in self defense.
When police took the older man into custody, he slipped out of one of his handcuffs and had to be re-cuffed by officers. Police noted that the man appeared to be intoxicated. While inside the patrol car, the man started to bang his head against the partition between the front and back seats.
Theft
Police arrested a 39-year-old man for investigation of third-degree theft after he allegedly took a jacket from the Fred Meyer store in the 25200 block of Pacific Highway South.
The incident occurred at about 1 p.m. Dec. 27 after store personnel called officers to report a known shoplifter in the store, according to the police report.
Officers stopped the man as he left the store on foot. Police told the man to take his hands out of his pockets, but he refused and then fled on foot across the parking lot. Officers yelled at the man to stop, but he kept running.
Police believed the man might have had a weapon in his pocket, so they used Taser guns to try to stop him but the guns apparently could not penetrate the heavy coat the man wore.
The man then looked back at the officers chasing him, stumbled and fell face down. As police tried to detain the man, he continued to struggle with the officers. An officer used a closed fist to strike the man two or three times in the head before they placed him in handcuffs. They did not find a weapon on the man.
The man told officers he fled because he thought he had a warrant for his arrest.
Police checked a Dec. 20 Fred Meyer store video that reportedly showed the man taking two jackets without paying, including the jacket he wore when police took him into custody.
Drugs
Police spotted a man smoking a cigarette at a bus shelter at the Metro Transit Center, 301 Railroad Ave., and decided to contact him about the violation of smoking in a public place.
Officers arrested the 48-year-old man for investigation of possession of drug paraphernalia and Kent warrants for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to the police report. They also cited him for smoking in a public place.
After police had arrested the man for the warrant charges, they searched him and found a smoking pipe with burnt marijuana residue in his pants pocket.
The man walked away from the bus shelter when he saw officers approach him, which police noted indicated he knew he should not be smoking in the shelter.
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