Deputy assaulted with animal bone, railroad spikes

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Deputy assaulted with animal bone, railroad spikes

By Dee Riggs
World staff writer

Originally published February 4, 2013 at 10:22 a.m., updated February 4, 2013 at 11:20 a.m.

MONITOR — A sharpened animal bone and two railroad spikes were used in an assault on a Chelan County sheriff’s deputy Saturday afternoon.

Neither the suspect nor the deputy were injured in the altercation, said Mike Harris, chief of patrol for the Sheriff’s Office.

Robert L. Chanley, 62, of Wenatchee, was booked into the Chelan County Regional Justice Center on suspicion of second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

About 3:15 p.m., Deputy Brett Peterson responded to a call about a man bouncing a basketball in both westbound lanes of Highway 2/97 near Monitor, Harris said in a press release. The suspect refused to obey Peterson’s commands, and then reached for the animal bone, which was in his waistband.

The deputy and Chanley fought and Peterson was able to get the suspect to drop the bone. While arresting Chanley, the deputy also had to wrest two railroad spikes from Chanley, according to the press release. After the arrest, Chanley was found to also have two sharp pieces of glass, a rock and a small pocket knife.

— Dee Riggs, World staff

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lonedog3 3 months, 2 weeks ago

WOW! he was carrying A LOT of assault weapons on his person! all fully capable of injuring and killing more than once!

JimboBear 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Hmmmmmmm! I wonder what his medication of choice is? Obviously he misread or ignored the directions for use.

Mamabear 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Way to go, Deputy Brett Peterson for keeping your cool and disarming this guy without getting hurt or having to hurt him! A testament to the quality of our law enforcement personnel and their training ! The guy was obviously armed for a fight! We should all be very thankful and extremely appreciative of how hard LE works at keeping us all protected and safe and realize just how dangerous their work is. I shudder to think of what could have happened had a concerned citizen attempted to approach this individual to get him off the road! Everyone can joke about how dangerous an animal bone might be, but rest assured a sharpened bone and/or railroad spikes and/or a sharp piece of glass all could have kept this deputy from going home to his family! His training and skills averted a tragedy, either way you look at it .

lonedog3 3 months, 2 weeks ago

I wasn't joking about the dangers of the assault weapons this lunatic was armed with! I know how dangerous one can be armed to the teeth with deadly weapons and willing to die due to his prescribed medication doing strange things to his mind. The deputy did a wonderful job main ting his composure standing up when confronted by a lunatic and multiple assault weapons.

Mamabear 3 months, 2 weeks ago

I was referring to Cal Fitszimmons commentary........although the irony in his comments is right on........and can be applied to anything that is used in the committing of a crime. A vehicle ..........a hammer.........a screwdriver.......a sharpened animal bone.........a beer bottle.......etc. sorry if you took it as a personal jab. Not so.

Chuck 3 months, 2 weeks ago

I can see the bumper stickers now: "When bones are outlawed, only outlaws will have bones..." LOL

(Happy nobody was seriously injured!)

antzrus 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Yeah, semiautomatic bones, glass, rocks and Twinkies are gonna' kill a lot of folks in a few seconds...

Oh yeah, and luckily people attacking & killing others never occurred to anyone until Prozac et al. was invented...

How about checking the fellow for alcohol (which nullifies any Prozac effect); found in 40% of those who kill themselves and take others with them.

Chuck 3 months, 2 weeks ago

How about leaving fully everything on the table, Doc?

If he was on something illegal, the WW could've published that, as it is a crime and subject to public records as such. (And if such information is available to WW staff, it would be well worth including in such articles now and in the future).

If it was prescriptions, then such information is not up for grabs by the media, and is therefore not worth speculating about in this particular case.

Either way, there's no need to get so defensive about it. :)

antzrus 3 months, 2 weeks ago

"I know how dangerous one can be armed to the teeth with deadly weapons and willing to die due to his prescribed medication doing strange things to his mind."

If you note the above quote-someone (lonedog3) on this thread is an expert in how psychiatric medications cause murder/rape/pillage and plunder. I get defensive because some do really believe this scatological blather and refuse such treatment. Depression is an illness that too often kills the sufferer and others. Hence, spreading such Scientology gobbledygook could result in needless deaths as it has in our town with the recent increase in suicides with such "expert" opinions as the above.

Chuck 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Not everybody who questions the commonality of SSRI's and spree killings is a Scientologist. That is on its face a fallacy of logic and not a good foundation for argument.

Not everybody who raises such questions does so on religious grounds.

And calling polite differences of opinion "gobbledygook" does little to help the point either.

Not so long ago, a dear friend and his wife were prescribed these drugs, found personal issues with them, and begged their doctors to get them off of their prescriptions. Is fair to argue that they were somehow "crazy" and should known better? or are such patient concerns valid in any way, shape, or form?

I thought that the beauty of America is that the individual is placed as the first, best arbiter of his/her own personal needs.

So if an individual- for whatever reason(s) opts to follow a more organic path (avoiding chemicals, GMO's, etc) should we suddenly brand him/her as a follower of a fringe "religion" based on the writings of a former science fiction author simply to invalidate a path some may find disagreeable?

Or do we take into account that not every approach works with every person, and give the individual the leeway he/she needs to pursue life on the path of each individual's choosing?

antzrus 3 months, 2 weeks ago

The original urban legend that SSRI type medications are the actual cause of mayhem rather than an attempt (and not always miraculously successful) at mitigating such tragedy, belongs solely to the Scientologists and their ilk. That someone may believe this swill does not mean they themselves are Scientologists, nor did I imply such. I just want to make clear where such garbage began.

That someone may have their own specific negative response to the SSRI's is to be expected. I know a few people who cannot tolerate milk, peanuts and Twinkies.

As you stated "begging" the MD to stop an SSRI is a bit melodramatic. SSRI's are non habit forming and most just discontinue (tapering is best) them on their own if they don't like the effects.

Yes, this is America and folks are free to do as they will; provided they are not adjudicated a danger to themselves nor others; which happens rarely. I would not label them as Scientologists if they abhor the SSRI route. But I would label their belief in the urban legend that SSRI's are actually the cause of the death and destruction as Scientologist beliefs as I have done.

In my own perception I do not perceive Scientology as a religion, but a cult. I don't think of these folks and religion in the same mental thread. From my own dealings with them they lie better than the skilled Arab souvenir dealer on the streets of Jerusalem (dealt w/them too :-) ).

Chuck 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Label the belief, label the man at his core, Doc.

Even a street vendor of any given ancestry could tell you that. :)

And as for my friend, you're right: the 300lb diesel mechanic doesn't do much begging. LOL If I've known that man as long as I have, it's a fair guess he told his doctor peacefully - but in no uncertain terms. :)

At least we agree on Scientology being a cult. LOL

But you cannot automatically label anybody as "irrational" somehow for being wary of ingesting chemicals of any kind anymore than you could call that same person crazy for not wishing to consume Genetically Modified corn in his breakfast cereal.

We all too often fail to listen to our gut. The school system certainly never trains children to do that. If a certain thing resonates with an individual in a positive or negative way, it's not the worst idea for that individual to listen and at least think it over before swallowing this or that.

antzrus 3 months, 2 weeks ago

"Label the belief, label the man at his core, Doc."

I've never heard that one Chuck. The problem with it is that our cores don't change much (except at Gold's Gym... :-), but our beliefs come and go throughout our lives. Cognitive psychotherapy (what I teach) is solely involved with helping folks change their beliefs/perceptions/thinking.

We don't label people as irrational. Rather, too many of our beliefs/thoughts/perceptions are. We search for solid concrete proof and evidence that our beliefs are rational. If we can't find solid concrete proof thereof, then we label the belief irrational and search for an alternative belief w/such proof.

Scientific beliefs that are supported w/experiential and well validated evidence/proof are the easiest to find if they are rational or not (i.e. fresh water boils at 212F at sea level, SSRI's are not murder/suicide pills, etc.). Other beliefs (i.e. everyone should like me, I present the truth in court and people should believe me, you should listen to me, I should get a raise, etc. etc.) where we "should" all over ourselves or others can be messily irrational and get us into all kinds of problems.

The gut is only one important part in our quest to survive. Our intellect, the rational side of it may be even more important. Yes, most school systems do not teach rational thinking. Mr Spock was right: "Human beings are highly irrational."

Chuck 3 months, 2 weeks ago

One of the greatest thinkers of the last century said "imagination is more important than knowledge."

So some of us would question the societal "good" of screwing with peoples' dopamine levels to maintain a more placid, pliant, comformist community for whatever stated reason of lofty goal.

Even a cursory glance at the history books will show you that them who "expend tremendous energy merely to be normal" never get more than they've asked.

GarySchoessler 3 months, 2 weeks ago

The longer the argument the weaker the point. Great Job deputy.

Mamabear 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Wow. Getting back to the story.........the crazed man was homeless. Guaranteed he was NOT on prescription meds, but probably meth. And how about that traffic on Hwy2/97 near Monitor??? Did it slow down or stop for the crazy guy with the basketball??? How about when the deputy was subduing him????? How grave was that danger to both of them? How about all those law abiding citizens whipping past the scene? A lunge one way or the other could have been certain death! The deputy did a better job of protecting EVERYBODY than the article related. Here is another question. What is the percentage of homeless people that have mental illnesses that are out of control because they DON'T have prescription meds???? As for the gun control issue........What made this guy so dangerous wasn't his HOMEMADE weapons....it was his criminal intent and his mental state. THAT is what our representatives should be focusing on!

antzrus 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Excellent, you raise a number of very salient points. But the problem is a certain group of too often irrational thinkers (there, I didn't mention "conservatives"), who want the right to free availability of semiautomatic bones, glass and Twinkies and also want to stop social service programs that provide mental health treatment to those whole play basketball on public highways.

Thank goodness for dedicated public servants, otherwise we'd reap what we sow...

imoagn 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Yeah, git rida them pesky bones, glass and twinkies!....and everythin else sharp and fatty. Humans are way too dang irrational for their own good. Lotsa Prozac oughta cure that way of thinkin!

Mamabear 3 months, 2 weeks ago

The social services programs that are now and have been in place are not working. You have the folks who know how to use and abuse the system and there is so much waste, fraud and lack of common sense that it renders most of the social services useless....except for those who know how to abuse it. (Administrators included). If we could focus on waste and fraud and overhaul much of our social services, perhaps we could afford to do some real good for those who really need assistance). Criminals are always going to find a way to get their hands on weapons for their ill intentions......which are so much easier to inflict on a knowingly unarmed public. The waste and fraud is so huge and widespread that raising taxes is nothing more than a teaspoon in the ocean! Government should be brainstorming night and day to figure out how to cut the waste and fraud and revamp and reorganize and set freaking priorities like the rest of us have to do instead of trying to convince us they need more money and posturing to make themselves look like saints. Meantime.....our true heroes, like the deputy in this story, risk their lives, SERIOUSLY, every time they sign in for duty and every minute they are out there, for the lowest paid department in the entire state of Washington. Yet go out they do. A soldier can deploy to a war zone and at least be able to readily identify the enemy. Back home.....our government is rapidly becoming public enemy number 1. Unless, of course, you know how to use and abuse all those expensive assistance programs that, by design, do not assist people to get on their own 2 feet but are basically nothing more than perpetual handouts! Reorganize...Regroup...Rethink.....Revamp with common sense and rational wisdom. Maybe then we can help the crazy, homeless "play in the middle of the highway" dude. He got the warm bed and 3 squares a day that he wanted, but it nearly cost him his life and that of a dedicated deputy. If a prescription drug would help him be a rational and responsible citizen and treat an unasked for mental illness , then he should be getting it ahead of someone that is perfectly capable of working, but on government assistance for no good reason. How many billions of dollars have been spent on psychoanalyzing the effects of antidepressants on depressed people??? Waste and fraud. It's DEPRESSING!!!!

Mamabear 3 months, 2 weeks ago

I need a Twinkie!

DannO 3 months, 2 weeks ago

For those who actually wish to educate themselves on mental illness and the resources available to them and their families, I suggest these recent editorials. These ideas are not new.

"Mental illness and violence" http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2020061391_waltstawickiopedxml.html

"Time to Overhaul Washington State's broken mental-health system" http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2020268816_jonathanmentalhealthxml.html

imoagn 3 months, 2 weeks ago

@antzrus -"Hence, spreading such Scientology gobbledygook could result in needless deaths as it has in our town with the recent increase in suicides with such "expert" opinions as the above."........So it's gobbledygook to question things? Well thanks to HIPAA, who knows whether or not these suicide victims (or the basketball player) weren't already being 'treated' with SSRI's that were possibly misprescribed or taken incorrectly. The public will never know, and that's probably how the 'experts' and big pharma like to keep it.

antzrus 3 months, 2 weeks ago

No, it's irrational to believe anything the Scientologists say (i.e. the Super Bowl commercial: "For those who think for themselves..." etc. etc.).

If an SSRI is "misprescribed" it doesn't do anything; unless one is bipolar and then it has about a 1:100 chance of precipitating a manic episode. To "take incorrectly" many take SSRI's along with their cannabis/opiates/alcohol and benzodiazepines and end up having an untoward effect because the SSRI is rendered useless and the above drugs aren't.

All the above are depressants and can easily exacerbate a depression deadly (i.e. 40% of successful suicides, and too often combined with homicides have alcohol in the system). Since it's "normal" to find alcohol in such a person's system it's no big deal. But if in the case Prozac is also found on board; it's gotta' be the Prozac that did it !!!

Gimme' a break. Prozac is probably the most examined medication there is-and no validated evidence for your fears.

What is interesting is that when it was sole property of Eli Lilly before it went generic, it made billions & billions for Lilly. Lilly thereafter had opposing attorneys lining up like flies on fresh meat looking for a bite; unsuccessfully I might add. But it was apparently worth trying.

As soon as Prozac went generic Lilly lost billions, as many other drug companies produced it very cheaply ($4.00 for a month's supply now-vs $200 when it was Lilly's alone) and the flies all went away. What's that about..?

Any big money producing action will attract flies; it's one of the dirty parts of capitalism. Just look at how Microsoft, Apple and Samsung go after each other. Do you think they'd do that if there was no tender fresh tenderloin ($$billions$$) waiting for the craftiest flies?

imoagn 3 months, 2 weeks ago

"To "take incorrectly" many take SSRI's along with their cannabis/opiates/alcohol and benzodiazepines and end up having an untoward effect because the SSRI is rendered useless and the above drugs aren't"...........There's a big difference between an untoward (adverse) reaction and no reaction at all, which is what is implied by saying "the SSRI is rendered useless". You can't possibly say that antidepressants have not often thrown a wrench in the already mucked up cogs of some people's brains. Therefore, yes, antidepressants can ALSO be blamed. We all know about the woes of alcohol and other drugs, but it's pretty clear that people are using SSRIs to try and fix depression caused by using depressants...how ironic. And what addict/alcoholic is going to tell the truth in the doctor's office? They just want to be feeling good. So, maybe doctors shouldn't be so quick to write out that prescription before they properly test and ask more questions of the patient. That way, maybe poor little Prozac et al won't get such a bad rap while they continue to cry themselves all the way to the bank.

antzrus 3 months, 2 weeks ago

"Useless" means there is greatly reduced or no antidepressant effect from the SSRI w/concurrent depressants on board. SSRI's are exceedingly weak (can't OD on them) and take weeks to build up and began the chemical changes. The depressants on the other hand do their depressant stuff in minutes to hours and most are toxic alone or in combination. Which is stronger and works faster; antidepressants or depressants?

Of course antidepressants have "thrown a wrench in the mucked up cogs of some people's brains." The same as peanuts, milk and Twinkies (remember: "Twinkies made'em do it!!), can muck up others. But even when SSRI's very, very rarely don't agree with someone there is no verified scientific evidence that folks turn into murder machines toward self and/or others.

Yes, it's very ironic that many medical providers do not seriously warn about the concurrent use of the above depressants. Many even prescribe some depressants along with the antidepressants.

The problem in my perception is that mental health care by other than a 15 minute interview and pill swallowing is cheaper for the insurance companies, the patients as well as less labor intensive for the patients too vs a concurrent course in cognitive psychotherapy (what I teach) along with the medication. Also, a medical provider can see and bill for up to 4-5 depressed folks in an hour by handing out pills making many times the $$$ vs a psychologist who spends 50-60 minutes with each individual patient billing for only one in that hour.

I too agree with your outrage the way too many mental health problems are managed: "Here, take this pill." Depressive illnesses too often can kill without proper treatment which takes time, a bit more $$$ for the insurance company and some labor by the patient.

imoagn 3 months, 2 weeks ago

"a medical provider can see and bill for up to 4-5 depressed folks in an hour by handing out pills making many times the $$$ vs a psychologist...".........That's an outrage and needs to be changed. It's clearly all about money for the industry, no matter how you slice it.

antzrus 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Well, duh. Did you think the insurance, health care, politics or any other industry runs on altruism?

Come on, wake up. The "bottom line" is always the bottom line with any business endeavor in our capitalistic society. I see nothing wrong here from a financial angle. You just have to be less naive.

Heck, for the past 25 years even modern organized psychology has been battling for the right to prescribe medication to get in on the action; the bottom line.