War vet dodges police assault charges

Prosecutors dropped charges against a 23-year-old veteran of the war in Afghanistan who was accused of assaulting and threatening police officers during the Choochokam event in Langley this summer.

Orrin McClellan, of Langley, was facing two counts of assault in the third degree after he resisted police officers, threatened to kill them and tried to gouge one officer’s eyes with his thumbs, court documents state.

Chief Criminal Prosecutor Colleen Kenimond said she agreed to dismiss the charges without prejudice, which means they can be refiled if necessary.

In exchange for the dismissal, Kenimond said McClellan signed a contract under which he agreed to certain conditions, most importantly to receive treatment for a number of issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder and possible alcohol abuse.

Kenimond said McClellan will be able to receive treatment through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In addition, Kenimond said “there will be some consequences” even if McClellan fulfills his part of the contract, but she wouldn’t say exactly what that means.

McClellan is an Army veteran who returned from Afghanistan in 2006.

The July 12 incident began when Langley Police Officer Corey Mills saw McClellan kicking over barricades. Mills ordered him to stop, but McClellan ran away. Mills chased the man and was “ambushed” when McClellan jumped out from behind a vendor’s booth, grabbed him and lifted him into the air, the officer wrote.

McClellan threatened to kill the officer, adding that he was in the Army and trained to kill people like him, the report indicates. He also asked the officer to shoot him.

Three other officers arrived and they attempted to arrest McClellan, who continued to swear and threaten them. McClellan assaulted one of the officers by sticking his thumbs in the man’s eyes, the report states. But the cops eventually got him in handcuffs.

“McClellan appeared psychotic and poses an extreme danger to law enforcement and the community,” the officer wrote.