Man arrested for alleged assault of police officers, park employee

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Talk about grapes of wrath.

A 28-year-old man from Beaux Arts was arrested for assault after he allegedly started a bonfire on the beach at Fort Worden and threw eggs, grapes, and a plastic cooler at police who were called to the scene.

Max Vincent Bates was booked into Jefferson County Jail for fourth-degree assault, third-degree assault, two charges of second-degree assault, and  obstructing a law enforcement officer.

Police were called to Fort Worden near the Point Wilson Light just after 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8 after 911 dispatchers were called about about a man throwing gas on a large fire on the beach.

During the previous night, emergency dispatchers had gotten reports of an erratic man and a women who were having a domestic dispute aboard a boat offshore at the fort.

When officers from Port Townsend and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office arrived early in the morning, they found a 25-foot boat that had been beached by the lighthouse.

A park employee was nearby trying to put out a fire on the beach with a fire extinguisher, and he pointed out Bates, who was on the boat.

The officer could see the park employee had been pelted with eggs, and when a Port Townsend officer called out to Bates he was “confrontational and taunting,” according to a police report on the incident, and threw an egg at the officer.

Bates then allegedly picked up a bottle and acted like he was going to throw it at the officer, but then put it back down.

When the policeman turned to talk to the park employee, Bates allegedly jumped off the boat with a long flathead screwdriver in his hand and acted like he was going to stab the officer and park worker with it.

The officer was afraid of an “imminent attack,” he wrote in his report, and as Bates came closer, “I reached down to draw my gun, which caused Max to suddenly stop and backpedal. I then drew my Taser instead, since he had retreated, and warned him to stay back.”

Bates, however, returned to the boat and began taunting the people on the beach again.

Another officer arrived and tried to de-escalate the situation, but Bates threw a water cooler at the police sergeant.

Bates then threw a bag of grapes at the officer, who blocked it with his hand from hitting him in the chest.

According to an incident report, Bates then jumped in the water and began swimming toward some fishermen who were down the shore.

Bates eventually started to come back to the shore, where an officer tackled him in the shallow water but Bates slipped away.

Police said Bates then began to swim back and forth near the shore, and eventually came close enough to where he walked back and forth in the shallow water and acted like he was going to fight.

Officers could not use their Tasers, according to the police report, because they would not work on Bates as he was soaking wet and the Tasers were waterlogged. 

Instead, an officer subdued Bates with pepper spray and he was grabbed and dragged to shore.

The screwdriver was taken as evidence and police took photographs of the broken eggs on the beach and on the clothes and shoes of the park employee.