A 35-year-old Bremerton woman was arrested for assaulting a man at the off-ramp of State Highway 3 onto Kitsap Way Oct. 9.

The assault was reported at about 11:11 a.m. and a police officer responded to the scene and found a 51-year-old unemployed Bremerton man who said the woman had assaulted him. He told the officer he was panhandling at the off-ramp when the woman came over and was upset because he was occupying a “prime” panhandling location. When he wouldn’t leave, she punched him several times with a closed fist and kicked him in the leg, according to police reports.

The officer observed a bruise and small laceration under the man’s left eye. The man told the officer that the woman headed toward the Denny’s on Kitsap Way. She was located on a trail between the Super 8 motel and State Highway 3 with other homeless people.

When the officer asked the woman about the assault, she said that last week the man had stabbed her and hit her with his cane. She said she was upset because he is not homeless nor a veteran, like his sign states.

A driver who witnessed the woman strike the man and had called 9-1-1 said she observed the woman as the primary aggressor and that the man attempted to defend himself with his sign and cane. The 35-year-old woman was arrested and booked into Kitsap County jail for fourth-degree assault.