Assault by spitting charged

An 18-year-old Coupeville man accused spitting blood at Coupeville Officer William Hibbs is facing a felony assault charge.

Island County prosecutors charged Kevin A. Stanfill in Superior Court Jan. 7 with assault in the third degree, assault in the fourth degree and minor in possession. Stanfill is accused of the felony assault charge for allegedly assaulting an officer by spitting blood at him.

Stanfill pleaded not guilty Jan. 28.

According to Hibbs’ report, a man claimed he was walking on NE Seventh Street in the evening of Dec. 2 when Stanfill approached him and hit him in the face for no reason. The man said he struck Stanfill back.

Hibbs’ wrote that he went to a nearby residence and found Stanfill, who was bleeding from the mouth and had a swollen face. Stanfill claimed that the other man jumped him.

The officer took Stanfill into custody and placed him in his police car. Hibbs wrote that the young man spit blood and kicked at the Plexiglas screen on the way to Whidbey General Hospital.

When they got to the hospital, Stanfill wouldn’t stop spitting blood, so the officer pulled him to the ground and pulled a sweatshirt over his face. But when they were walking in, the sweatshirt slipped down and Stanfill “spit blood and bodily fluids” in Hibbs’ face, court documents state.

Hibbs wrote that he gave Stanfill a portable breathalyzer test, which measured the man’s blood-alcohol level at .07.

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