EVERETT — A homeless man is facing a possible felony charge for allegedly tearing up a north Everett office this week after receiving some unwelcome news about public assistance.
The man, 23, was at the Department of Social and Health Services offices on Broadway, speaking with a social worker. The Tuesday meeting was being held in an office “cubicle farm,” where other people also were speaking with state workers.
The man didn’t like what he was being told. He “became enraged and swearing, jumped up and started knocking down cubicle walls, damaging them in the process,” according to a report by Everett police.
Before he was done, the man allegedly also tore a phone from the wall, tipped over a printer-copying machine and “mule kicked” a hole in the office wall “the size of his shoe,” police said.
The man was arrested for investigation of malicious mischief. Before he could be booked into jail, however, he smashed his head into the metal screen divider in the patrol car, causing an injury that required medical attention, police wrote.
He allegedly said he was upset because he hadn’t been receiving services he believed should have been provided to him, the police report said. It offered no detail on the nature of the services that were denied.
Damage was estimated at $5,000. The mess significantly hindered or delayed the ability of DSHS workers to provide services to the public.
“Employees were upset by this, with one employee saying it was the most shocking incident in the building she had seen in over 23 years,” an officer wrote.
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