Court documents say two unleashed pit bulls bit customers before one man was hit in the mouth with a wrench.
TACOMA, Wash. — A Tacoma man was charged Thursday after two pit bulls bit customers outside a gas station and one person was hit in the mouth with a wrench, according to Pierce County court documents.
Chad Manu Alexander Kaaihue was charged in Pierce County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree assault, fourth-degree assault, second-degree animal cruelty, obstructing a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.
Prosecutors listed a dog as the alleged deadly weapon in one assault count and a wrench in the other.
The incident happened Wednesday evening at Speed E Mart at 1101 South 19th St. in Tacoma, according to a probable cause document.
Police were sent to the store after callers reported two pit bulls biting people and keeping customers from leaving.
Court documents say one person told officers he was bitten by Kaaihue’s dogs and hit in the back of the head.
An officer saw bite marks on the person’s arms that were actively bleeding, according to the documents.
Another person had bite marks on his hands and told police Kaaihue threw a metal object at his face, hitting him in the mouth and knocking out a tooth.
The person later gave officers a cut metal wrench with a rubber slingshot attached, according to the probable cause document.
Police said the wrench had blood on the bottom of the handle.
Surveillance video from the store showed Kaaihue walking with a dark gray pit bull and a white pit bull near the front doors shortly before the bites, according to court documents.
The dogs were not on leashes and were barking at people walking by.
The dark gray pit bull first bit one person’s hand or wrist near the entrance, then bit the same person again inside the store, police wrote.
The same dog later bit another person on the right arm after the person came back outside and confronted Kaaihue, according to the documents.
Police said video showed Kaaihue reach into his vehicle and throw an object at that person. Investigators later identified it as the wrench that struck the person in the mouth and knocked out his tooth, according to the probable cause document.
Tacoma Fire Department crews treated both people at the scene. Because St. Joseph Medical Center was about two blocks away, the two decided to walk there instead of being taken by ambulance, court documents say.
Police said Kaaihue left the gas station in a gray Pontiac G6 with the dogs inside.
An officer followed him to the area of South Martin Luther King Jr. Way, where animal control later worked to take custody of the dogs.
According to court documents, Kaaihue told officers his dog bit him first and said they were not going to take his dogs.
Police said officers arrested Kaaihue after learning there was probable cause for second-degree assault.
Officers wrote that Kaaihue resisted being arrested and later refused to give his name and date of birth.
When asked for his name, Kaaihue said it was “yo mama.com,” according to the probable cause document.
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