POULSBO — A 25-year-old unhomed Port Townsend man has pleaded guilty to assaulting a Jefferson Transit bus driver in October and sentenced to three months in Kitsap County Jail.
Gavin D. Monie changed his plea to guilty on Dec. 5 and was sentenced for third-degree assault.
He will get credit for time served as determined by the state Department of Corrections.
Third-degree assault — which involves specifically contact with a firefighter, law enforcement officer, healthcare worker, public transit operator or other public servant — is a Class C felony.
The driver returned to work after the assault. Jefferson Transit General Manager Nicole Gauthier declined comment on Thursday.
Monie was arrested by a Poulsbo police officer on Oct. 31 at the North Viking Transfer Center in Poulsbo and booked into the Kitsap County Jail, according to the Kitsap County prosecutor’s statement of probable cause.
Monie has been in Kitsap County Jail since then. In addition to the jail sentence and 12 months probation, Monie was fined $600 and ordered to submit to DNA testing.
The assault occurred on Jefferson Transit’s Route 7, which runs daily between the Haines Place Park and Ride in Port Townsend and the North Viking Transfer Center in Poulsbo.
The statement of probable cause gave the following description of events leading up to and including Monie’s arrest:
Monie and a woman had ridden the bus from Port Townsend to the transfer center in Poulsbo. The driver told both of them to get off the bus and they were not allowed to ride back. Monie argued with the driver.
The driver tried to photograph Monie so he could be trespassed from the buses and Monie punched the driver several times, knocking him into the bus aisle, then continued punching and kicking him.
Then Monie threw the driver out of the bus and continued punching and kicking him while he was on the ground. The driver told police he didn’t lose consciousness but that it was a violent attack.
Poulsbo Police Chief Ron Harding and a deputy caught up with Monie later and he began fighting with them. After he was put under arrest, a law enforcement officer began reading Monie his rights.
“I tried to read Monie his Miranda warnings from my department-issued card. Monie took over and recited them to me. He was surprisingly accurate, to include having a lawyer appointed.”
Then he was taken to Kitsap County Jail.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.
