Police arrested a 44-year-old Bremerton man after he allegedly threatened a friend with a shotgun after the friend had spilled coffee on him.

Police received a report of threats made at a trailer in Port Orchard around 3:51 p.m. on October 5.

On arrival, police say they found Michael G. Gareis outside the trailer “carrying a black in color 12 GA shotgun with a pistol grip,” a certificate of probable cause states.

According to court filings, the alleged victim told police that Gareis became “mad at him for spilling coffee on his lap,” and in anger, retrieved the shotgun and “told [him] to leave his trailer.” The man “feared that Michael would use the shotgun against him if he failed to leave the trailer,” a Kitsap County Sheriff’s department officer wrote.

The police said the shotgun carried by Gareis “resembled the one” the alleged victim described.

Police say they told Gareis to drop the gun but he “immediately retreated to the trailer.” When he reappeared without the gun, police ordered him to “get onto the ground in order for officers to detain him,” the report states.

A struggle ensued. Police put Gareis into a chokehold and used two sets of handcuffs, according to the charging document. Medical assistance was contacted to address a small cut on the defendant’s forehead and the effects of the chokehold.

Another witness stated she had also been threatened by the defendant, police said, with “the shotgun in his possession,” stating she “feared for her safety.”

Gareis was charged with two counts of misdemeanor harassment and one felony charge for unlawful possession of a firearm, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Gareis has a prior felony drug conviction dating to 1996.