PORT TOWNSEND — A 25-year-old unhomed Port Townsend man has been arraigned in Kitsap County Superior Court Wednesday afternoon on one count of third-degree assault in connection with Monday’s attack on a Jefferson Transit bus driver.
Bail for Gavin D. Monie was set at $20,000 during Wednesday’s hearing. He remained in the Kitsap County Jail on Friday.
An omnibus hearing was set for 9 a.m. Nov. 22 in Kitsap County Superior Court. A trial setting hearing is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 27.
Third-degree assault involves contact with a firefighter, law enforcement officer, healthcare worker, public transit operator or other public servant. It is a Class C felony with a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and $20,000 in fines.
Jefferson County Transit’s Route 7 runs daily between the Haines Place Park and Ride in Port Townsend and the North Viking Transfer Center in Poulsbo.
Monie was arrested by a Poulsbo police officer at 11:20 a.m. Monday 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.
The statement 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. Then Monie and the driver began arguing.
The driver tried to photograph Monie so he could be trespassed from the buses and Monie attacked him. 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 it was a violent attack.
Port Townsend Police Chief Ron Harding and Deputy Peffer caught up with Monie later and he began fighting with them. After he was put under arrest, the 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.
During Wednesday’s arraignment, Judge Tina Robinson set bail at $20,000, noting that although Monie did not have any criminal history or warrants in Washington state, he did have three assault-related arrests in Texas dating from 2015, 2018 and 2019.
Jefferson Transit said the driver is back at work.
Jefferson Transit also released the following statement:
“Jefferson Transit does take safety on our buses really seriously and we enforce our code of conduct. We won’t discuss the issue further because it is under investigation. But we don’t tolerate threats or violence against employees or passengers and if we have to enforce or code of conduct we do it.
“We appreciate the support we received from Kitsap Transit. They were there and ready to help. We have served an exclusion on the individual but whether that becomes permanent will have to wait until everything is reviewed.”
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at Brian.Gawley@ sound publishing.com
