Police Beat: Assault with peanut butter, a threat with a knife and a brick hurled in grief

Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to Tacoma police.

April 20: It was a small-time assault, and the weapon of choice was peanut butter.

Officers called to a disturbance at a community health center in the 2300 block of Tacoma Avenue South found a shirtless, sweating man standing out front with peanut butter on his shoes.

An open jar was on the ground nearby, along with toothpaste and a portable CD player. The man, 48, pointed to a woman and said she wouldn’t return his stuff.

The woman, 46, told a different story. She said the shirtless man, who carried a suitcase, had been arguing with another guy and threatening to tie him up with a rope. The man had thrown a couple of rocks. One hit the woman’s car, she said.

She stepped out. The man pulled the peanut butter jar out of his suitcase and chucked it at her, she said. The CD player came next. The other guy who had been arguing with the man took the suitcase away before the man could throw anything else.

The officer looked the woman over. She had peanut butter in her hair, on her chest and on her arm.

A second officer spoke to the second man, 47. The man said No-Shirt had been walking around asking people for a spoon to eat his peanut butter.

The second man didn’t have a spoon. He said he offered to share his pizza, but No-Shirt didn’t want pizza — instead, he wanted to fight, and told the man to step outside. No-Shirt added conditions: He wanted to tie their hands together for the fight.

The second man refused, he said. No-Shirt got mad and started throwing rocks.

A third witness backed up the accounts of rock and jar throwing. Officers spoke to No-Shirt and asked why he threw the peanut butter. No-Shirt said the woman took his suitcase and threatened to assault him.

The story didn’t square with the accounts from other witnesses. Officers arrested No-Shirt and booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor assault.

April 17: If you’re an adult and your grandparents let you flop at their place occasionally, maybe threatening Grandpa with a blade isn’t the best move.

The dispatch call reported a fight with a knife. Officers drove to a house in the 6300 block of South I Street. A witness said a man was fighting with his grandfather.

The man wasn’t around, but Grandpa, 67, was. He stepped out of the house, along with Grandma, 65, and a woman, 30.

Grandpa explained. His son had died recently. The woman was the dead son’s girlfriend and pregnant with his child. The grandson, 22, had been living at the house off and on.

Earlier in the evening, Grandpa heard a loud argument between the grandson and the woman. Grandpa told the grandson to leave.

The grandson refused, saying he could do whatever he wanted. Grandpa grabbed the grandson by the elbow and tried to escort him out. The grandson told him to let go or he would “gut him,” Grandpa said.

Grandma walked into the room at that point. Grandpa told her to call police, and the grandson left the house.

The girlfriend provided more details. She said the grandson came home, said he was hungry and started rifling through a garbage can. She offered to make him some food, and the two went inside.

After eating, the grandson paced around the room. The woman realized he was high on something, she said. She told him to calm down. The grandson got mad, pulled a knife and said, “Don’t make me do what I did to my father.”

The woman said that was a reference to an earlier fight when her boyfriend — the man’s father — was still alive. The grandson had cut him in the hand.

Right after the threat, Grandpa entered the room, the woman said.

Outside, other officers tracked down the grandson, who was walking around the area. They saw him throw something into an alley as they approached.

The grandson said he didn’t know about a fight at the house or a weapon. He said he’d seen a prowler dressed in black, walking around the house, and confronted him.

Officers saw no evidence of a prowler, and the other witnesses hadn’t mentioned one. They found a black-sheathed knife in the alley where they had first seen the grandson. They showed the weapon to him; he said he’d never seen it before.

Officers booked the grandson into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of harassment and intimidation with a weapon.

April 15: The brick-throwing man called 911 on himself.

Officers drove to the 5300 block of Pacific Avenue, following up on a report of smashed windows.

They found a moving van and a moving truck. The van’s windshield was smashed. The truck’s passenger window was shattered. A brick was sitting in the cup holder.

The man, 44, sat across the street. Officers asked him what was going on tonight.

The man said he smashed the windows because his daughter had just died.

Was he on medication?

Yes, the man said.

Officers told the man he was under arrest and cuffed him. The man argued. He deserved better treatment, he said; he called 911 on himself.

Officers booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of malicious mischief.

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 7:51 AM with the headline "Police Beat: Assault with peanut butter, a threat with a knife and a brick hurled in grief."