POULSBO — A Poulsbo man accused of wrestling with and threatening the life of a police officer who tried to stop him from setting fire to debris in the roadway goes to court at 9 a.m. July 13 on charges of second-degree arson and harassment.
Aaron M. Hay, 42, is being held on $500,000 bail at Kitsap County Jail. He is a commander in the U.S. Navy, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department.
Police Sgt. Howard Leeming wrote in a statement of probable cause that he strained his right arm and bicep and sustained a number of small cuts and bruises in his tussle with Hay.
“He’s doing fine,” Deputy Police Chief Andy Pate said on July 11. “He was released back to full duty after visiting urgent care.”
At 3 p.m. July 5, Leeming went to a home on the 1800 block of Claret Loop to investigate a report of a man “acting irrationally and yelling at neighbors,” according to the Statement of Probable Cause. “One caller also said the man intended to set debris on fire in the roadway.”
Leeming wrote that when he arrived, a man later identified as Hay “came running out of the front door of his house with a cigarette lighter in his hand.” Hay was headed for a pile of debris he had taken from his garage and thrown into the road at the end of his driveway.
“I yelled at Hay but he continued to the pile and lit it,” Leeming wrote. “The debris lit with a flash as he had apparently poured gasoline on those items and the gas was running down the gutter of the street.”
The gas ignited and the flames went under Leeming’s car and “continued for at least 100 feet in the roadway in the gutter,” Leeming wrote. Flames from the debris were 20 feet high, he reported.
“I ran over and tackled Hay and yelled at a neighbor to move my car away from the flames, which were now surrounding my car,” Leeming reported. A neighbor moved the patrol car, and the car was not damaged.
Leeming tried to handcuff Hay and the two wrestled. “I was able to get Hay to the ground again and hold him” with the assistance of neighbors. “During the altercation, Hay repeatedly told me he wanted to kill me and he also reported the threat to other officers … after they arrived.”
One of those officers, Sgt. John Halsted, reported that he Tazed Hay so that he could be handcuffed. “The suspect went from threatening our lives to telling us he loves us,” Halsted reported. “He at one point started banging his head on the ground and begging us to shoot him in the head. I pinned his head to the lawn to keep him from hurting himself.”
While Hay was being restrained on a gurney by an aid crew, he tried to bite a medic, Leeming reported. Hay was sedated and taken to Harrison Medical Center for evaluation. He was booked into Kitsap County Jail at 2:06 a.m. July 6.
At the scene, Hay’s wife put Halsted in contact with Hay’s captain, who said Hay has been “working through some severe mental problems” with the Navy.
