BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Bellingham Police officers were dispatched to the 200 block of E Chestnut Street in Bellingham about 3:50pm on Friday, August 13th, due to a report of a man smashing a glass door with a metal pipe.
Bellingham Police Lieutenant Claudia Murphy told Whatcom News via email that the officers located the man who was walking up and down the street while swinging the pipe and yelling. The area was highly populated downtown area and people were seen fleeing from the man.
An officer attempted to speak with the man in order to deescalate his behavior and get him to drop the pipe. Instead, the man continued to swing the pipe erratically.
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Click for more informationWhen the officer approached the man, the man struck him in the arm with the pipe. The man and the officer both went to the ground with the man continuing to assault the officer with the pipe and making threats to stab or kill the him while pushing the pipe into the officer’s ribs.
The man, identified as Perye William Maher, age 57, was eventually disarmed and taken into custody.
Bellingham Police arrested Mahar and booked him into the Whatcom County Jail. He currently faces charges of 2nd degree assault with a deadly weapon, 3rd degree malicious mischief and resisting arrest in Whatcom County Superior Court.