PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man charged with assaulting a Clallam Transit bus driver and elderly passenger last month posted bail and then was returned to jail the next day after police said he trespassed at a bus stop.
Riley Edge White, 59, had posted $30,000 bail Thursday on charges of first-degree attempted kidnapping, first-degree attempted robbery and two counts of second-degree assault after he allegedly attacked bus driver Joy Crummett and 80-year-old Angeline Olsen on a Clallam Transit bus May 28.
Having posted bail, he was released from the Clallam County jail. But he was returned to custody Friday morning for investigation of second-degree criminal trespass because he allegedly violated orders to stay away from Clallam Transit facilities or property, police said.
“Officers responded to a complaint that Mr. White was at a bus stop, the bus stop on Fourth Street just outside of the Clallam County Courthouse entrance,” said Sgt. Jason Viada of the Port Angeles Police Department.
“Mr. White had been excluded from being on any Clallam Transit facilities or property, so he was arrested by officers because he was trespassing on a Clallam Transit facility.”
White remained in jail Saturday on $500 bail for the trespassing allegation.
“Whether he bails out or not, we anticipate he’ll be in District Court on Monday,” Viada said.
White faces a July 18 trial on felony charges after the attack on the bus.
Transit video
A shocking Transit video, which is on the Peninsula Daily News website at www.peninsuladailynews.com, shows a man kicking Olsen in the face and bashing her head against the walls and floor of the bus until Crummett stops the bus in the 1600 block of West 16th Street and intervenes.
The 60-year-old driver was subsequently punched, choked and thrown against a change machine, according to the probable-cause affidavit.
Crummett managed to escape from White’s grip and shut off the battery before her alleged assailant took the wheel of the bus, court papers said.
The man was attempting to start the bus when police arrived, they said.
Both women were treated at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles and discharged after the attack. Both are reported to be recovering at their homes.
One of the assault charges is for strangulation, and the other carries a special allegation that White caused the reckless infliction of substantial bodily harm on a vulnerable victim.
Asked for higher bail
Clallam County Chief Criminal Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin had asked the court June 2 to raise White’s bail to $100,000 because of community safety concerns.
Superior Court Judge Christopher Melly denied the motion for a higher bail, saying that although the allegations were “very serious,” White had been unable to post a $30,000 bail.
“He’s still in custody,” Melly said then.
“I don’t see any reason to increase the bail at this point,” he continued.
“What the court’s interested in seeing now is what Peninsula Behavioral Health’s review, or evaluation, will establish.”
Mental health report
A report from Peninsula Behavioral Health filed with the court June 2 said White had been seen at the agency since 2013 through a Veteran Administration contract.
It said he had been diagnosed as “bipolar with mixed manic and depressive symptom history, which is secondary to 2001 traumatic brain injury with temporal lobe involvement,” the report said.
It also said the agency “is not contracted nor do we provide any medication related services to Mr. White. All of his medical care and medication (medical and mental health) needs are handled through the Port Angeles VA Clinic and the Veterans Administration system.”
It recommended that White have weekly appointments with a counselor and take all medications prescribed by the VA.
In a June 6 addendum to the June 2 report, the licensed independent clinical social worker wrote: “Mr. White stands accused of serious criminal charges which is outside of my scope of practice and training to assess related to any competency, risk to the community and any future risk that he might pose.
“Such areas of assessment are best made by forensically trained and experience mental health providers, which I am not.”
The court will consider the report at a status hearing July 1.
White had been served exclusionary papers preventing him from riding Clallam Transit buses.
He has a right to appeal his permanent exclusion from Transit in three years, agency General Manager Wendy Clark-Getzin said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
Executive Editor Leah Leach contributed to this report.
