He tried to fight a dog and stabbed a neighbor when he intervened, police said

A Tacoma man tried to fight a dog and stabbed a neighbor when he intervened, according to court documents.

The incident took place about 1 a.m. Tuesday on East Harrison Street.

The neighbor was in his motor home when he heard his dog barking and looked out to see a man standing on the sidewalk. He was allegedly punching through the fence in an attempt to hit the dog.

After the neighbor yelled at him to leave, the man ran across the street and knocked on a door. He then darted back to the neighbor’s house and scaled the 6-foot fence.

“Once in the yard, the suspect approached the dog and tried to fight with it by punching and kicking at it,” records show.

When the neighbor intervened, the man allegedly stabbed him in the arm.

The neighbor punched the other man several times and he fled, running to another home and punching the hood of a car several times.

Police stopped him a block away and took him into custody.

The man’s wife came outside when she heard the commotion and told officers her husband had recently come out of a coma and had been suffering seizures.

She said they argued earlier and he left the house, but she assumed he’d gone to the store.

The man told police he’d quarreled earlier with his neighbor but there was no physical confrontation. He said the cut on his hand was from punching a fence.

“When asked about dog, (he) said the dog barks at his kids when they go to ice cream truck,” records show.

A neighbor who opened the front door when the man knocked on it said he was rambling about killing a dog. That person then watched the man run back to the victim’s house.

On Wednesday, Pierce County prosecutors charged the man with second-degree assault and third-degree malicious mischief. He pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance.

This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 10:57 AM.