PORT ANGELES — Police arrested five juveniles and three adults Wednesday evening on investigation of assaulting a homeless man who wouldn’t give them his beer.
The man, 43, was shoved and spit on by the “mob-like” group in downtown Port Angeles, Port Angeles Sgt. Barb McFall said Thursday.
The homeless man, who was unidentified because he is a witness in an active investigation, was shaken but didn’t appear injured, she said.
The group consisted of five juveniles no younger than 13, and three young adults, McFall said.
Each was arrested on investigation of fourth-degree assault, defined by McFall as non-consensual touching or putting another in fear of bodily touching.
Court Commissioner Chris Melly found probable cause for charging only one of the three adults, McFall said.
That was Briana Miller, 20, of Port Angeles, McFall said, adding that she was released from custody in the Clallam County jail without bail.
“We will re-file on the other two,” McFall said.
Four of the five juveniles, who are unidentified because of their age, remained in custody Thursday night, McFall said, adding she did not know why the fifth had been released.
The Port Angeles Police Department gave this account:
Shortly after 7 p.m. one of the juvenile girls approached the homeless man near City Pier.
She asked for his beer, and the man told her no. Afterward, another girl came up and “rushed him.”
The man pushed her away and began walking south along Lincoln Street.
The group surrounded him near the Front Street, and began yelling and spitting on him.
The man pulled out a pocket knife and held it above his head.
He walked over to The Gateway transit center, where the group surrounded him again.
They began pushing him, but were stopped by a woman who saw what was going on and put herself between them and the man.
A police officer, responding to a 9-1-1 call from a teenager who said that a homeless man threatened them with a knife, arrived shortly afterward.
McFall said it was clear from interviews that the homeless man was acting in self-defense when he pulled out the knife. He was not arrested.
McFall also said the situation could have been much worse if the woman — who remained unidentified because she is a witness — hadn’t stepped in to help the man.
“It was definitely a pack mentality,” McFall said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.