Bellingham cop-car vandal held 8 arrest warrants before latest conflict with police

Bellingham Police Department (BPD) reported two officers escaped serious injury over the weekend when someone hurled a railroad tie, weighing approximately 25 pounds, at the windshield of their patrol car.

“Now, the crazy part of the story, Jason, is that he threw this railroad tie at a car and he didn’t actually know that he ended up hitting a law enforcement officer,” Washington State Senator Simon Sefzik said on the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “Meaning he was just intending to throw it at what could have been anybody. It could have been you. It could have been a teenage driver. It could have been an elderly parent and it ended up being a member of law enforcement with Bellingham PD this time.”

The suspect who allegedly threw the railroad tie had been contacted by Bellingham Police 26 times, according to BPD. He has been arrested 15 times now after the latest incident and had eight warrants out for his arrest. It is unclear if he is homeless.

BPD reported the officers had glass shards in their hair, mouth, skin, and uniforms.

“I think its also just a sign that they’re so frustrated,” said Sefzik. “I mean, they’re so frustrated with their own ability to keep us safe while being handicapped to where even their own law enforcement officers are being affected by this sort of nonsense.”

While violent crime rates in Bellingham hover around the national average, according to 2021 crime data, property crimes occur at nearly double the national rate.

In addition, theft in Bellingham occurs 36.76 times per 1,000 (the national rate is 13.9) and vehicular theft occurs 4.12 times per 1,000 (the national rate is 2.45).

“We still have not even heard from many of the Democrat senators and representatives that voted for these so-called reforms that have even acknowledged that it was a mistake,” Sefzik said. “If anything, they’re still trying to defend it and pretend this was the right course of action for the people of Washington state. So my fear is that they’re going to double down if we allow them to stay in the majority and continue on with the types of reforms that make us less safe.”

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