SEQUIM –– Morgan Weimer, a 45-year-old Sequim man whom police officers were recorded punching outside a punk-rock concert at the Oasis Bar and Grill early Sunday morning, was issued Tuesday night a citation that alleges he committed fourth-degree assault and resisted arrest.
They are misdemeanor charges.
“I wasn’t trying to resist arrest,” Weimer said in an interview with the Peninsula Daily News on Wednesday.
“It was a simple altercation between me and somebody else in the bar, and the next thing I know, the police had picked me up and planted me in the planter box outside and punched me.”
Video of Sequim Officer Grant Dennis punching Weimer in the back was taken by a witness.
“We’re all human beings,” Weimer said. “There’s no reason to do that to anybody. We’re all humans.”
The cellphone video of the incident outside the Oasis at 301 E. Washington St., has been viewed by thousands on Facebook, YouTube and the PDN website.
The video shows three officers attempting to arrest Weimer, with Dennis issuing a series of blows and a fourth officer trying to hold others back.
Weimer, who asked not to be photographed, said he watched the video a few times but began to “feel sick” when watching it again.
He said he saw a doctor Sunday. After an X-ray, Weimer said, he was told his injuries would need time to heal.
He is stiff and has missed three days of work. He said it hurts to breath and cough.
There are no bruises on his back.
Chief Bill Dickinson, speaking at a press conference Monday, expressed support for his officers, who are all still on duty, and said the department is investigating the officers’ conduct.
Footage from the bar’s surveillance cameras showed Weimer’s arm reaching around Dennis’ waist after they left the bar.
Dickinson said Monday that Weimer’s hand reached near the officer’s Taser stun gun.
Weimer said he grabbed on to Dennis to keep his balance.
“All I could see was that my face was going to go right into the cement. I was trying not to fall,” he said.
Dickinson said Dennis’ punches, saying they were intended to get Weimer to give officers his left arm to be handcuffed.
Weimer said his arm was pinned under him by the officers.
“I had my face down in the dirt and my arm stuck under my chest,” Weimer said. “I didn’t even know who was hitting me.”
The Oasis footage showed Weimer and another man, identified by police on Wednesday as Kristopher L. Boynton, 31, in an altercation.
Officers, on scene because of a disturbance in the parking lot, grabbed Weimer and ejected him from the bar.
They left a ticket for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in Weimer’s mailbox near his front door after taking him home, but it was not considered official since they didn’t deliver it to him personally, said City Attorney Craig Ritchie.
Officers said they took him home because he told them his 7-year-old son was there alone, according to the police report.
“I remember thinking when they dropped me off, that they’re just releasing me because they know they’d done something wrong,” Weimer said.
Weimer Tuesday said he regretted leaving the child alone, and pointed out his son is actually 8 years old.
“To me, as a father looking back now, I shouldn’t have gone out,” he said. “I wish I never did.”
City and county codes prohibit parents from leaving children younger than 12 years old home alone.
Ritchie, though, said the city could not press such charges because officers never inspected Weimer’s house to see if a child was inside.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
