Man arguing about masks hit by car at Everett gas station

Published 1:30 am Saturday, October 3, 2020

EVERETT — An argument over masks at an Everett gas station may have led to a felony assault in July, leaving a customer with broken bones, according to police.

An Everett man, 42, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of second-degree assault and malicious mischief.

He reportedly was at the store at 220 SE Everett Mall Way when another customer and a clerk were having a dispute. The clerk — who had a mask but was wearing it around his neck — told the other customer he had to leave because he didn’t have a face covering, according to an Everett police officer’s report. The customer went back to his car to look for a mask, but couldn’t find one, so he came back inside with his shirt pulled up over his face and put three $20 bills on the counter.

That still wouldn’t do, the clerk told the customer, according to the report filed in Everett District Court. The two argued briefly, then the customer went to leave.

Then, the customer was shoved hard from behind, apparently by another man in the minimart, sending him into the glass doors. The customer reported he told the man he would’ve fought back, but he had a broken rib and was wearing a brace. The suspect didn’t say why he attacked and left.

The man who was shoved said he called 911 and went outside to take pictures of the suspect’s vehicle, including its license plate. The suspect allegedly pulled a U-turn and slammed into the customer, knocking him “up into the air then onto the asphalt pavement,” court papers say. The man suffered a broken ankle and wrist, and his back was also injured, police wrote. His cell phone was broken, too.

Everett police identified the suspected attacker using security video and the license plate. The customer who was struck confirmed the suspect’s identity, reporting he had gotten a good look at the attacker’s “distinctive eyes” above his mask.

The two men did not know each other. On Thursday, an Everett District Court judge set the suspect’s bail at $15,000.

Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.