In two separate incidents in August, islanders have reported what they described as violent assaults on Vashon — and are still waiting to see if the people they say assaulted them will be charged with a crime.

Charter House

According to a police report, the first incident took place on Aug. 3, when deputies responded to the Charter House Apartments, a Vashon HouseHold property located at 17305 96th Pl SW regarding an assault in progress.

When deputies arrived, a longtime resident of the building, Bryson Hvatum, was sitting on the steps of the building, bleeding from his nose and mouth, and also had welts on the side of his head. The report detailed how Hvatum told police that his neighbor had attacked him on the grounds of the building.

Witnesses confirmed Hvatum’s account, saying they had witnessed the unprovoked attack and seen the neighbor ambush Bryson from behind, punching and kicking him in the head.

The police report also detailed that the alleged attacker had retreated to his apartment after the incident and would not come out, but had admitted punching Hvatum. Hvatum was transported by ambulance to St. Anne’s Hospital.

According to Hvatum’s mother, Gail Hvatum, who also spoke to The Beachcomber, Bryson’s injuries were extensive and were shocking for her to see when she met Bryson at the hospital.

Two bones were broken in his face, she said. She also sent photographs taken at the hospital, showing Bryson with a black eye and caked blood on his face, a swollen ear and face, and scratches on his neck and shoulder.

Despite the severity of the accusation against him, the person accused of the assault was not removed from his apartment until two days later, after Vashon HouseHold worked with behavioral health specialists and the sheriff’s office to have him removed and conveyed by a crisis response team to a hospital, according to documents received by The Beachcomber.

The Beachcomber also learned from sources that the accused attacker has since been released from the hospital and that a process has begun to evict him from Charter House.

“[The person accused] was in fact released from an involuntary week-long stay at the hospital, but was released to a Crisis Respite Center operated by DESC in Seattle – where he remains,” said Jason Johnson, executive director of Vashon HouseHold. “From there he will be moving to a transitional housing program off-island. All of this is done in coordination with several organizations including Vashon Household to ensure [the person accused] gets what he needs and has supportive housing with services (not something that Vashon Household can offer) and so that the community of neighbors at Charter House and JG Commons, and the community at large, are kept safe.”

Both Hvatum and his neighbor, Janet Felicity Welt, who witnessed the attack, have obtained temporary restraining orders against the accused attacker, claiming he has threatened their lives. The orders, which Welt and Hvatum are now seeking to extend long-term, bar the accused person from coming within 1,000 feet from them — currently making his return to Charter House unlawful.

Welt said she had made numerous complaints over the years to both police and Vashon HouseHold about the accused person’s aggressive and threatening behavior.

“The safety and wellbeing of the residents who live in our apartment communities is one of our top priorities,” said Jason Johnson. “We understand there is a lot of emotion around this event, and we will be working together with residents to find a path of healing and recovery. We took immediate action, following the administrative and legal processes necessary to mitigate the immediate situation and to ensure residents’ safety over the long term.”

Johnson added that although he is relatively new to his role as the director of Vashon HouseHold, he has already learned that Vashon is a place where people care deeply for each other.

“The support during this difficult time offered by neighbors and the social services network on the island has been incredible to witness,” he said.

Casey McNerthney, director of communications at King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said that on Monday, Aug. 22, his office had received a referral from King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) to charge the person accused of the assault with a misdemeanor assault in the 4th degree.

McNerthney said the prosecutor’s office had re-referred the case back to KCSO, asking that the case be further investigated as a felony offense.

Vashon Thriftway

On the evening of Thursday, Aug. 11, sheriff’s deputies responded to a call following an alleged assault of a 27-year-old islander, Desiree McIntyre, inside of Vashon Thriftway.

McIntyre, who uses they/them pronouns, posted about the event on social media, sharing portions of Thriftway surveillance videos of the incident.

McIntyre’s account of the incident was also detailed in a KIRO-7 news story, which aired on Aug. 15.

In an interview with The Beachcomber, McIntyre repeated what they had said in the television interview and on social media: while shopping, they had suddenly been accosted by a man they did not know in the wine section of Vashon Thriftway, who stood extremely close to them and used profane language to angrily accuse them of cutting him off in a traffic incident outside the store, moments before.

Additional surveillance video, sent by McIntyre to The Beachcomber, showed the encounter before they both stepped out of camera range. The footage also showed McIntyre quickly flying back into camera range, crashing to the floor and hitting their head sharply on the floor.

Moments later, McIntyre’s accused attacker stepped around McIntyre, who was prone on the floor, and walked away.

On Facebook, McIntyre said that at the moment before their fall, the man had “grabbed my whole face, pulled me forward, and threw my head with all his might into the tile floor.”

In the video, the few shoppers who were near the encounter appeared not to notice the encounter going on between McIntyre and the man, or McIntyre’s fall to the floor.

“We live in desensitized times,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre also shared photos showing swelling and abrasions on their head which they said were the result of the alleged assault — injuries that prompted paramedics to recommend that they go to a hospital emergency room (ER) the next day. McIntyre said that at the ER, they had been told they had suffered a concussion.

The Beachcomber contacted King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) and was told by communications officer Zoe Birkbeck on Aug. 19 that the case had been referred to the prosecutor’s office.

Birkbeck instructed The Beachcomber to make a public records request in order to receive any more information on the case.

Casey McNerthney, of King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, said that as of Monday, Aug. 22, his office had not yet received a referral from KCSO on the case — but that he expected to soon receive one that would show KCSO recommendation that the accused man be charged with a misdemeanor charge of assault in the 4th degree.

The prosecutor’s office would review the case, McNerthney said. It was possible, he added, that the prosecutor’s office could recommend that the sheriff’s office reinvestigate the case as a felony charge, if prosecutors felt the more serious charge was merited.

In their interview with The Beachcomber, McIntyre said that after the incident, they had been referred to Tim Meyer, a sergeant who works as a public information officer for KCSO.

McIntyre said Meyer had been sympathetic and listened to their account of the incident, but that their interactions with two deputies on Vashon had been upsetting.

One deputy, they said, had abruptly questioned whether they had exaggerated their testimony, and another discouraged them from pursuing the case, saying, “I can’t recommend that you press charges, because it’s a small island.”

McIntyre also said that through social media, their accused attacker had been identified. They said a deputy had told her that the man had been questioned, but that he had a “different story” than McIntyre’s.

Note: To add clarity and context, the online edition of this story includes statements from Jason Johnson, Vashon HouseHold’s executive director, about the nonprofit’s response to the incident at Charter House and the current whereabouts of the person accused, which did not appear in the print edition of the Aug. 25 issue of The Beachcomber.