A 63-year-old Bremerton man was charged with hit-and-run after one of the wheels of the blue Chevrolet pickup truck he was driving flew off and smacked into two other vehicles, damaging them.
According to a Washington State Patrol report, the man was driving the truck on SR303 around 8:20 p.m. Feb. 4 when the front left wheel flew off the truck near Dawn Road. The wheel slammed a Ford SUV and a GMC pickup truck. The man drove the gimped Chevrolet into a nearby parking lot and then walked across the street to Outback Steakhouse to make a phone call. The man told an employee he needed to use their phone because a wheel flew off the truck.
Meanwhile, a WSP trooper spoke with the two victims and found gouge marks in the road that led to the Chevrolet. The man left the steakhouse and walked north to Gludes Pond Road to find help. He allegedly walked past the two victim’s vehicles.
A short while later, a trooper saw two men in a different pickup truck stop by the damaged Chevrolet. The men told the trooper they were going to find a jack to fix the truck and said a woman had been driving the Chevrolet. They then left in a hurry. Troopers had the Chevrolet towed away.
Although troopers had identified the man as a suspect, it took several more days of investigation to make contact with him. When a trooper finally was able to speak with the suspect on Feb. 20, the man admitted he was the driver and claimed the wheel didn’t fly off the truck but had just gone flat. The man had a suspended license and no insurance, but told troopers he thought it was OK to drive that night because he was just going to Fred Meyer. Bail was set at $10,000.
The following cases were filed in Kitsap County District Court:
• An 18-year-old Seaback man and a 19-year-old Gig Harbor man were charged with robbery in the first degree after they allegedly robbed a man of $100 at gunpoint during a drug deal gone awry in Bremerton Feb. 20. The victim gave the Gig Harbor man $100 to purchase $10 worth of marijuana. But the Gig Harbor man allegedly didn’t give the victim marijuana but instead pulled a gun on the victim and told him he’d keep the $100. The Seabeck man allegedly said the $100 was a “tax” and threatened the victim with a taser. The Seabeck man also took the victim’s watch. Bail was set at $250,000.
• A 22-year-old Gig Harbor woman was charged with assault in the third degree. She allegedly punched a clerk in the face four times during an attempt to steal a $1.29 ice cream bar at the Silverdale Chevron station on Feb. 21. Bail was set at $50,000.
• A 25-year-old Bremerton man was charged with DUI and making false or misleading statements to a public servant. The man drove erratically and crashed his Chrysler sedan into a tree near Bucklin Court around 7 p.m. Feb. 17. Two witnesses said the man was the sole occupant of the vehicle and that he ran off after crashing and then returned to the vehicle. The man told a Washington State Patrol trooper that his friend was driving and wrecked the car. “I asked (the man) where his friend was; he stated, ‘He’s gone,’” the trooper wrote. The man possessed the keys to the car. The man became upset and asked the witnesses why they told the trooper he was the driver. The trooper asked the man to call his friend to see where he was, but the man did not make a call. The man’s BAC was .213 and he had a previous DUI. He was booked without bail.
• A 19-year-old Silverdale man was charged with assault in the fourth degree and unlawful imprisonment. The man allegedly blocked his wife from leaving their house during an argument Feb. 16. In October 2015, the same man had been charged with malicious mischief in the third degree after he allegedly punched a the hood of a Mercedes during a road range incident, denting it.
• A 41-year-old Bremerton woman was charged with identity theft in the first degree. She allegedly fraudulently gained access to another person’s credit card account and purchased $6,500 worth of merchandise with it.
• A 25-year-old Bremerton woman was charged with possession of methamphetamine. She allegedly tried to shoplift clothing from the Port Orchard Goodwill store but an employee saw her and called police.
• A 30-year-old Bremerton transient was charged with assault in the second degree. The offender allegedly hit another man on the head with a plastic coffee cup, threatened to kill the man and accused the man of stealing his medications at the Salvation Army Feb. 16. The offender allegedly tried to strangle the man with a rope and smashed the man’s cell phone when the man tried to call 911. The offender allegedly was “wild-eyed and manic.”
• A 23-year-old Bremerton man was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of methamphetamine. Deputies allegedly investigated a suspicious vehicle near Carney Lake. The man ran away from the vehicle after deputies arrived. The vehicle was determined to be stolen. Social security cards, debit cards and checks that did not belong to the man were allegedly found in his wallet.
• A 22-year-old Bremerton man was charged with DUI after a Washington State Patrol trooper pulled him over for driving 55mph in a 35mph zone with a head light out. His BAC was .143.
