By Jessie Stensland / Whidbey News-Times
A bartender at a downtown Oak Harbor bar suffered “a severed bicep” when he was thrown into the street and run over by a truck Saturday night, according to court documents.
A report by an Oak Harbor police officer describes a chaotic scene that unfolded outside of Off the Hook, a Pioneer Way bar, after two bouncers and the bartender intervened to stop an assault at around 10 p.m.
The primary suspect, Oak Harbor resident Nicholas Ramundo, appeared in Island County Superior Court Monday.
Judge Carolyn Cliff found probable cause existed to believe the 33-year-old man committed the crimes of assault in the second degree and felony harassment.
Chief Deputy Criminal Prosecutor Eric Ohme asked that Ramundo be held in jail on $25,000 bail.
Ohme noted that Ramundo was convicted in separate 2007 felony King County cases; one was for kidnapping in the first degree and the second was assault in the second degree with a deadly weapon.
Ramundo’s attorney, Matthew Montoya, recommended that bail be set at $5,000. He said his client has strong ties to the community.
Ramundo has worked at Nichols Bros. Boat Builders in Freeland for four years and owns property in Oak Harbor and elsewhere.
In the end, Cliff set bail for Ramundo at $20,000.
The witnesses at the scene told police that the melee began when a woman — Ramundo’s companion — attacked another woman outside of the bar, the report on the incident states.
Ramundo charged in, picked up the other woman and threw her to the ground, the report indicates.
Two bouncers grappled with Ramundo and his girlfriend, both of whom continued to fight. The bartender came outside, saw Ramundo wrestling with a bouncer and tackled him.
The bartender tried to get Ramundo into a headlock, but Ramundo was able to get away, the report states.
Ramundo pushed the bartender into the street and a passing Ford Ranger drove over his arm. An EMT later told an officer that the bartender’s bicep had been separated; a friend drove him to the hospital.
In addition, Ramundo is accused of threatening to kill a bouncer during the fight.
Ramundo was arrested and taken to jail, where a preliminary breath test showed his blood-alcohol content was .176 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving.
This story originally appeared in the Whidbey News-Times, a sister publication to The Herald.
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