Haines Police charged a 40-year-old transient man with inciting fear and for physically assaulting a police officer, two counts of assault.
On April 2, a 24-year-old woman reported that the man had been watching her for more than an hour. Later that day the woman reported the man to police. Officer Brayton Long later approached the man.
“He became verbally assaultive right off the bat,” Long said. “He wouldn’t give me his full name. He just stared at me. He took his sunglasses off, stared at me again, and put them back on.”
Long asked the man if he had been watching girls on the beach with binoculars. The man attempted to walk past Long, and Long blocked his path, telling the man that he would be detained for assault with fear or harassment. The second time Long stood in the man’s way, asking him again whether or not he would cooperate with the investigation, the man lunged at Long, knocking him to the ground.
“I was extremely concerned for my safety and for the safety of my community,” said Long.
The man moved to Haines from Fairbanks 16 days ago.
“I consider myself a law-abiding citizen,” the man said in court Wednesday. He claimed he had no criminal history within the recent past. “I’m not a threat to the residents of Haines Borough,” he said, “I want to become a community member.”
Long said the man has a history of criminal convictions in Minneapolis including assault and domestic violence assault going back two decades. The man is also a fugitive from justice. Long said the Fairbanks Police Department has an officer advisement against the man, and the University of Fairbanks police say he carries pepper spray.
He is currently at the Haines Rural Jail Facility awaiting transfer to a jail in Juneau under an $8,000 bond. The man refused the right to an attorney and pleaded not-guilty.