SEQUIM – Sequim police fractured the already damaged left arm of a man they said resisted arrest on Friday.
Sequim Police Chief Robert Spinks said the arresting officers have the option of suing the man for assault.
Neither of the arresting Sequim police officers, Anthony Gram and Rick Larsen, were injured.
Charles Aslin, 33, of Sequim, was being held Saturday in the Clallam County jail without bail on investigation of methamphetamine possession with intent to deliver, making a false statement to police, resisting arrest and failure to obey a police officer.
Before he was booked into jail, his broken arm was treated at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
Acting Sgt. Don Redel, said Aslin was violent during the arrest, attempting to kick officers as they restrained his right arm.
But Jacqueline Cary, 18, of Sequim, who was in the car with Aslin until shortly before the arrest, said he did not fight as Larsen pulled him from the car.
She said that as Larsen attempted to cuff his wrists, Aslin screamed that his arm was breaking.
Aslin’s left arm had been injured some time before the arrest and was largely paralyzed, said Cary and others who gathered at the hospital on Friday.
He had been undergoing therapy, said Aslin’s attorney John Black, and was “just starting to get feeling in his hands and able use fingers a bit.”
Sequim Police Chief Robert Spinks said in a press release that Gram and Larsen have the option of suing Aslin for assault.
“I am now encouraging our staff to utilize all options, including civil lawsuits, when a tort has been committed against them in the course of narcotics arrests and certainly whenever a felony assault is committed against them,” Spinks said in an e-mail.
The police said Aslin was found with 20 grams of methamphetamine in his car and in his pants as well as $330 in cash.
Black said Aslin told him he had “just a small package” of methamphetamine.
Larsen and Gram initially approached Aslin for having car tabs more than a year expired.
Aslin gave them a false name, police said.
Aslin has warrants from Clallam County District Court, one from Bonney Lake Municipal Court and one from Pierce County District Court, court documents show.
Officers placed Aslin under arrest for obstruction of justice and making a false statement.
Redel said officers spent 15 minutes trying to persuade Aslin to step out of the vehicle while he gave “passive resistance.”
Sequim police later cited Cory at the hospital for obstruction of justice because she failed to back up when the arresting officers told her to.
