Pierce County sheriff’s deputy pleads not guilty to assault charge at arraignment
A Pierce County sheriff’s deputy accused of attacking another man with a knife has pleaded not guilty at arraignment.
Following investigation, 48-year-old Robert Glen Carpenter recently was charged with first-degree assault for the alleged attack, which happened Oct. 5 in Tacoma.
Carpenter had been scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 26, but records show he instead appeared in court Dec. 13, the day after he was charged.
Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend set bail at $50,000, which court records show Carpenter posted, and she ordered that Carpenter not go to establishments whose primary business is to sell alcohol or marijuana.
Family friends wrote the court that Carpenter is a responsible person, a good deputy who takes care of problems at work and in his personal life, and that they believe he’d do the right thing if granted bail.
They also wrote that Carpenter struggles with alcohol addiction, had been alcohol-free for a long time and has gone to treatment for the second time.
Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said in a statement when Carpenter was charged that a notice to terminate the sergeant’s employment had been issued.
Carpenter has worked for the department for 25 years.
According to charging papers:
On the night of the incident, he and two men he met at a bar went to a marijuana dispensary in the 3800 block of Pacific Avenue.
Carpenter later gave the men edible marijuana, and one of them said he wanted marijuana to smoke because edibles did not get him high.
Then Carpenter lifted his shirt, exposing a gun. The man felt threatened, lowered his shoulder into Carpenter and took the gun.
He ran to a vehicle, and Carpenter followed, pulled a knife and started slashing and stabbing him inside, the charging papers show.
Officers arrived, detained everyone, and Carpenter allegedly said, “I got robbed and I want my attorney.”
The man he allegedly attacked was taken to a hospital, where he got 15 stitches for cuts to his hands.
News Tribune archives say Carpenter was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving twice on the same day in 2007 in Chelan County, for which he got a deferred prosecution upon agreeing to treatment for alcohol abuse.
This story was originally published December 26, 2018 at 11:32 AM.
