EVERETT — At the height of the obsession, the man called an Everett police detective five or more times a day, and left threatening voice messages.
At the end of his shift, the detective would sneak out of the station to avoid interacting with the suspect, who blamed him for taking his children away.
In 2014, the man was convicted of stalking the cop.
In June, the suspect allegedly contacted the Everett police public records unit to see when a five-year order protecting the detective would end. He was told it would expire in August, according to court papers.
This month the two men crossed paths again in the Snohomish County Courthouse, while the detective waited to testify in an unrelated case, according to a new arrest report filed by Everett police.
After passing by and disappearing from the detective’s view, the Everett man, 43, allegedly returned and sat down across from him, smirked and asked if they knew one another. The detective reportedly said yes, and reminded the man of his stalking conviction.
In court papers, the detective described the man’s demeanor as “becoming increasingly aggressive during the encounter,” and said he believed the situation could turn violent.
At that point, a court marshal intervened and asked the man what he was doing at the courthouse. Just looking for a quiet place to read paperwork, the man reportedly replied. The claim didn’t appear to add up to police, because the man chose to sit across from the detective in an otherwise empty hallway.
Nor did his appearance at the courthouse seem “merely incidental,” court papers say.
Police arrested the man eight days later, Sept. 20, while he was at a U.S. Bank branch. He had a meth pipe in his backpack, according to court papers. An Everett District Court judge found probable cause for felony stalking. The man remained in jail Friday, with bail set at $15,000.
While police may experience hostility from suspects, it’s not common for that to evolve into stalking, said Steve Strachan, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
In 2018, there were 1,871 reported incidents of assaults and intimidation against police in the state, according to data kept by the association.
Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.
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