PORT TOWNSEND — A man whose altercation with Port Townsend police prompted interest in mental health treatment died of an infection Dec. 24 at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Myles Sebastian Carroll Kelety was 24.
A memorial service for Kelety is scheduled for 3 p.m. Jan. 9 at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave., followed by a candlelight vigil at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 10 on Water Street in downtown Port Townsend.
Kelety, who had been a longtime Port Townsend resident, was also known under the names Myles Sebastian and Myles Carroll.
Kelety was involved in a June 7 incident involving Port Townsend police. He allegedly disobeyed orders to stop and was struck by Officer Patrick Fudally.
Kelety, Fudally and Officer Jon Stuart were hospitalized with minor injuries.
Independent report
An independent report from PST Investigations of Lynnwood concluded that police used reasonable force but that Fudally should have called for backup before approaching Kelety.
Kelety, who was presumed to be mentally ill, had had several altercations with police in recent years, the report said.
The incident brought the issue of mental health to the forefront, accelerating the development of a planned interagency task force combining police, mental health and emergency services resources for mental health cases.
Port Townsend interim Police Chief Mike Evans said the incident called additional attention to mental health treatment but was only one of hundreds of such cases.
“Every family is touched one way or another by mental illness,” Evans said.
“It’s all tragic and shows that mental illness can be fatal.”
The infection was not connected with the incident with Port Townsend police.
Since the latest incident with police, Kelety had not been seen in Port Townsend and was probably living in Seattle, according to Paul Rice, who described himself as Kelety’s friend.
“After this happened, I don’t think he felt welcome in Port Townsend,” Rice said.
Rice, who opened the Pinbar on Taylor St. in 2012, said Kelety “was our first regular” and was often so intense “that he made people uncomfortable.”
Accomplished guitarist
Kelety was an accomplished guitarist, Rice said, and although he was hard to know, “anyone who was able to break through the layers saw that he had a good, warm heart.”
Kelety is survived by his parents, Deborah Carroll and Jeff Kelety, and two younger siblings, Josh Kelety and Emma Kelety, the Rev. Bruce Bode of the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship said, adding that all live in Port Townsend.
“This is really sad,” said Julia Cochrane of Port Townsend, who had known Kelety for several years.
“We always thought that he would get better.”
