PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man has been charged with alleged assault with a rusty machete at City Pier.
Timothy A. Williams, 39, was charged Thursday with single counts of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon and harassment — threats to kill.
He will be arraigned in Clallam County Superior Court on May 14. He was being held Thursday in the Clallam County jail on $20,000 bail.
Port Angeles police alleged that Williams confronted a man at the City Pier parking lot at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday. He had accused the alleged victim earlier in the day of being a “pervert” and a “pedophile,” according to the affidavit for probable cause.
Williams told police that he overheard the alleged victim talking about having sex with 12-year-old girls, court papers said.
Witnesses said Williams retrieved a 3-foot-long rusty machete from his car and began swinging the blade at the man’s head.
The victim deflected the strikes with his hands and two thin metal poles he had retrieved from his car, police said.
“It was almost like we were sword fighting,” Williams told police as stated in court documents.
“I thought I was going to go to jail for murder.”
Williams allegedly struck the man five to 10 times with the machete, police said.
A man who witnessed the attack yelled, “What are you doing?” causing Williams to flee, police said.
Williams returned to his vehicle and intentionally swerved at the victim as he left the City Pier parking lot, Police Detective Trevor Dropp said in the probable cause statement.
Another witness told police that he heard Williams call the alleged victim a “child molester” and observed Williams swinging an object at the victim.
Williams was arrested without further incident at about 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Officer Jackson VanDusen spotted Williams near the Port Angeles Library and made the arrest with fellow Officer Swift Sanchez and Corporal Brian Stamon.
Sanchez recovered the machete from a recycling bin at the Welcome Inn RV Park in Port Angeles, court papers said. She observed what appeared to be blood on the blade.
The assault victim had “blood all over his hands” after the attack, police said. He sustained severe lacerations to both hands and broken bones in his left hand, police said.
The man was treated on the scene by Port Angeles Fire Department medics before he was taken to Olympic Medical Center and later to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
A Harborview spokeswoman said the man was in satisfactory condition Monday afternoon.
“The victim got out of Harborview and actually returned to Port Angeles and came to the police station for a follow-up interview, which was very helpful to get a few more pieces of this puzzle,” Port Angeles Deputy Chief of Police Jason Viada said in a Wednesday interview.
Police continued to interview witnesses, Viada said. Surveillance footage from City Pier captured part of the incident, he added.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson on Thursday signed a no-contact order preventing Williams from having any contact with the alleged victim or from returning to City Pier.
Defense attorney Harry Gasnick of Clallam Public Defender objected to his client being prohibited from the city property.
“There’s nothing in the charges that would suggest that the gentleman has any animus towards the pier, or at persons at the pier in general,” Gasnick said.
Erickson signed the no-contact order as proposed by the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, saying Gasnick could dispute the no-contact order at Williams’ arraignment.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.