BELLINGHAM — Police in Bellingham have arrested a man accused of pointing a handgun at a pregnant woman because she was smoking a cigarette.

Police spokesman Mark Young tells The Bellingham Herald that a man reportedly stopped his blue pickup truck Wednesday to shout at a 28-year-old smoker on a sidewalk, “Who the heck smokes when they’re pregnant?” The woman replied, “I do.”

She later told police she’s about eight months pregnant.

Young says after more words were exchanged, the man is accused of pulling out a handgun and pointing it at the woman. He drove off and she called 911.

When police stopped a blue pickup a short time later, Young says the driver acknowledged confronting the woman but denied pulling a gun. Police found two semiautomatic .45-caliber handguns in the center console.

The spokesman says 24-year-old Justin Dain Palmer was arrested for investigation of pointing a gun.