8/19/2005 4:14:00 PM Man arrested for alleged drunken, nude boating
An apparently drunken, nude man in a sailboat allegedly eluded law enforcement officers and rammed a sheriff's vessel Wednesday evening before running out of fuel and turning himself over to deputies, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
Jefferson County Undersheriff Tim Perry said deputies Aug. 17 used a boat to intercept the boater after receiving several calls complaining he was flashing people attending the regular Wednesday evening concert at Quincy Street dock downtown. The man was passing by shore on his sailboat.
By the time Deputy Charles McCarty and Deputy Gordon Tamura left to pursue 52-year-old Lynn M. Mowry of SeaTac, Wash., he had made his way around Point Hudson and was headed toward Fort Worden State Park, Perry said. That was around 7:30 p.m.
Perry said Mowry saw the sheriff's boat approaching and quickly got dressed. But he continued along in his sailboat, powered by an outboard motor.
Perry said deputies decided not to board the boat because he was zig-zagging. They asked Mowry to dock at the Marine Science Center at Fort Worden, where Port Townsend Police officers were waiting.
Initially it appeared the boater would comply, Perry said, but then Mowry turned toward the sheriff's vessel and started on a collision course. McCarty and Tamura veered away as quickly as they could but could not avoid the sailboat, Perry said.
"He gave it a glancing blow instead of coming straight in to the side," Perry said, adding that the law enforcement boat sustained slight damage.
Mowry then began to motor back toward Point Hudson. When his motor ran out of gas, Perry said, McCarty and Tamura pulled alongside.
Mowry then told the deputies he would surrender, but wanted to have a cigarette first, Perry said.
"He asked McCarty if he would light it. McCarty convinced him it would be better to smoke the cigarette on their boat to keep it from getting wet. Mowry handed the cigarette to him, and McCarty grabbed his wrist and moved him from his boat to our boat," Perry reported Aug. 18.
Mowry has been charged with eluding a law enforcement vessel, operating a vessel under the influence of intoxicating liquor and indecent exposure, according to the Jefferson County Prosecutor's Office. Eluding a law enforcement vessel is a class C felony; the other two crimes are gross misdemeanors.
Perry said Mowry's boat was impounded as evidence and is being held out of water at the boat haven.
Mowry had been detained by the U.S. Coast Guard last week after being seen standing naked on his boat in Sequim Bay. He said Mowry was checked into a mental health facility in Clallam County but then released, after which he got back on his boat and set sail for Port Townsend.
With his boat on dry land, Perry said, Mowry won't be able to post bail and set sail again.
For "the rest of the story" and full coverage of all Port Townsend and Jefferson County news, events and people, subscribe to our award-winning weekly newspaper.
