STANWOOD — A Stanwood man was driven to settle a score over a dirt bike, a girl and alleged tire marks across his kitchen floor.
Police believe the trouble was all a figment of his drug-fueled imagination.
On Monday, police arrested the man, 25, after he allegedly confronted someone he believed rode a dirt bike through the kitchen of his Stanwood home and also was having an affair with his girlfriend.
The victim told police he had never met the man before and doesn’t know the woman, according to documents filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.
Police could find no evidence that a bike was to blame for scuff marks on the suspect’s kitchen floor. Instead, detectives believe a refrigerator pulled across the floor most likely made the marks, Stanwood Police Chief Dave Bales said.
“People under the influence of alcohol and other drugs occasionally put two and two together and get five,” Bales said. “I think that’s probably what happened here.”
Police said the man drove up to a Stanwood home in the 27600 block of 73rd Avenue NW where he apparently believed a philandering dirt bike rider lived.
He threatened the startled man who lives there with a baseball bat, saying, “We’re going to settle this,” the documents said.
“The Twilight Zone just parked in (his) driveway,” Stanwood police Sgt. Rob Palmer said. “You have a complete stranger show up and accuse him of some bizarre act.”
Police believe the suspect may have gone to the victim’s home because of a white pickup truck parked in the driveway, similar to the truck driven by a man friendly with the suspect’s girlfriend, the chief said.
“This person looked as good as any … Someone who might be responsible for some of the things that were bothering him,” Bales said.
After threatening the man, the suspect left and returned a few moments later, this time without the bat. During the second visit, the suspect chased the man into the house. The frightened victim locked the door behind him.
The suspect kicked the man’s door in, again saying, “We’re going to settle this.”
The suspect later told police someone drove a dirt bike through his living room, scraping doorways and leaving tire marks on the kitchen floor and “burnout marks” on his lawn, the documents said.
“There’s no evidence that indicated that the suspect’s story had any merit at all,” Bales said.
Police inspected a dirt bike owned by the victim for fresh scrapes and signs of chipped paint, the documents said. Then they went to the suspect’s home.
Detectives found the aluminum baseball bat used to threaten the victim.
The suspect was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of second-degree assault and second-degree burglary.
“This was a real weird one to figure out,” Palmer said. “His allegations are fantastic. The reality is that every indication we’ve got is that he just missed the boat on reality.”
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