A hole was drilled in the door, and in came the bear spray

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, January 8, 2019

LYNNWOOD — An ex-boyfriend drilled a hole through a woman’s door and blasted a bear-spray-like irritant into her apartment near Lynnwood, according to felony charges filed Friday.

The on-and-off couple had broken up over the Everett man’s erratic behavior when he abused meth and steroids, according to the woman’s report to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. The man showed up and pounded on her door off 164th Street SW on the night of Dec. 10.

The woman, 49, wouldn’t let him in. The man, 50, left for a moment and returned with a power drill, according to the charges. The woman and her daughter, 14, heard drilling. A haze seeped through a window above the door. It burned their lungs. The teen’s tongue swelled up and she felt like she was “eating Pop Rocks,” she wrote in a witness statement.

During a 911 call, the woman struggled to breathe. She and her daughter hid on a balcony. A sheriff’s deputy arrived to find no sign of the man or his car. In the apartment, the deputy breathed in a “strong, acrid, smoky odor in the air,” the charges say. He couldn’t speak without coughing and felt a burning in his nose for hours after his shift.

In court papers, the woman recounted a history of abuse and threats. The same week, three times in a single day the man threatened to hit her, reportedly winding up for a punch but not striking her.

She tried to get away from him, and he followed her in his car. She reported that he ran her off the road to keep the argument going.

Weeks before the attempted break-in, the man showed the woman he owned a canister of bear spray, she said in a written statement.

Sheriff’s deputies tracked down the man when he posted on Facebook about being at a church on Dec. 14. He reportedly admitted he’d gone over to the apartment but denied the woman’s version of events.

Snohomish County prosecutors charged the man with domestic violence first-degree burglary. Under state law, one definition of burglary is breaking into someone else’s home with the intent to commit a crime.

Court records show the man has been convicted of domestic violence crimes nine times. One was for felony harassment. Another was for felony violation of a no-contact order. Five were domestic assaults.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.

For help

If you or someone you know needs help regarding domestic violence, contact the Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County hotline at 425-25-ABUSE, or 425-252-2873.