What do you do when a police K-9 unit has to remove you from the spot you’re sitting in…in the middle of the highway? You should consider better life decisions at that point. A man who was reportedly pointing a gun while driving shut down all northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Marysville, Washington, on June 29 until officers took him into custody with pepperballs and a police dog. Witnesses reported the man aiming a firearm at other drivers as he drove through the city, and a Marysville officer followed him onto I-5, according to The Daily Herald.
Officers performed what police called a high-risk traffic stop on I-5 near 116th Street Northeast. The man pulled over, and police closed all northbound lanes to make the arrest. He then got out of the vehicle and stayed in the middle of the freeway.
The officers on scene then gave several repeated commands for him to comply, and he did not respond. They deployed pepper balls, then sent in a K-9 named Greg (yes, Greg), who was able to apprehend the wayward man. The 39-year-old from Lake Stevens, was taken into custody immediately afterward.
The closure backed up traffic for miles. The Washington State Department of Transportation said the backup on northbound I-5 stretched as far as five miles before lanes began reopening, KIRO 7 reported. The sheriff’s office released body camera footage of the arrest in a Facebook post, as you can see below, and thanked the officers for their concerted efforts.
Why Police Say the Man Appeared to Be in Crisis
View this post on Instagram
Marysville police described the man as appearing to be in distress rather than defiant. A department spokesperson, Robb Lamoureux, said the driver seemed to be in some type of distress and was not comprehending the officers’ instructions as they yelled for him to exit the vehicle. Police told KING 5 he appeared to be in a crisis and was not responding to commands.
That description shaped how the stop played out. Officers held back rather than approach the vehicle, because the man was reported to be armed, and they turned to pepperballs and the K-9 as less-lethal options when he would not respond.
The Marysville account and the sheriff’s office account line up on the sequence of the arrest, though the sheriff’s office post did not mention the possibility that the man was in crisis. He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on suspicion of second-degree assault.
What Second-Degree Assault Means in Washington
Second-degree assault is the charge police said the man was booked on, and in Washington it is a Class B felony. It covers several kinds of conduct, including assaulting someone with a deadly weapon, and pointing a firearm at other people can fall within it. Because the reported conduct involved a gun, the case may also carry a firearm sentencing enhancement, which adds time on top of the base sentence.
A Class B felony in Washington is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. Being booked on suspicion of an offense is not the same as being formally charged, and prosecutors decide what charges to file after reviewing the case.
Anyone arrested is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise.