UPDATE | Police say man shot taunted officers with knife

The man who was shot by Bainbridge Island police in downtown Winslow last week had twice injected himself with methamphetamine, then allegedly taunted officers with a knife before lunging at an unnamed officer who was trying to get him out of his car, according to court documents filed late last week.

Brandon Thomas Roberts, 42, of Port Orchard was shot by a Bainbridge officer near Winslow Green on Feb. 7 after he earlier fled from officers at the scene of an emergency call at Ordway Elementary.

Roberts was trapped in his Ford Mustang on Winslow Way after a short police pursuit just after 2 p.m. Feb. 7, after police boxed him in when he tried to escape down Finch Road NE, a dead-end street on the west end of downtown Winslow.

According to court records, Roberts locked himself inside his Mustang after police blocked his car from moving, and refused to come out.

Roberts allegedly shouted obscenities at police and yelled “Lemme do this!” as police tried to get him out of his car. A deputy sheriff tried to break a passenger window of the car, but was unsuccessful.

Police said it appeared Roberts was shooting up with methamphetamine during the standoff, as police tried to get into his car.

A sheriff’s deputy was able to open the passenger side door of the Mustang with a “slim jim,” when police said he reached into the center console of the car and pulled out an 11-inch folding knife and started waving it at the sheriff’s deputy.

Police repeatedly ordered Roberts to drop the knife, according to court documents, but he taunted officers with the weapon and continued to wave it around.

When one officer holstered his gun and pulled out a Taser, police said Roberts placed the knife down and it looked like he was going to get out of the car. But he then said, “[Expletive] let’s do this” and grabbed the knife again.

One officer, identified in court documents as “John Doe,” fired his weapon at Roberts when he allegedly lunged at the officer with the knife.

Police said he continued to try to attack officers after he was shot, but officers were able to pull him from the car when they saw he no longer had the knife in his hand.

Authorities have not said how many times Roberts was shot, though witnesses at the scene said they heard two gunshots.

He was taken to a Seattle hospital for treatment, and then brought back to Kitsap County late last week, and booked into Kitsap County Jail for first-degree assault. Bail was set at $1 million.

Bainbridge Island Police Chief Matthew Hamner said the officer-involved shooting actually began as a life-saving effort by 911 responders a little more than a mile away.

Hamner said officers were called to the parking lot of the school on Madison Avenue after dispatchers received a 911 call of an overdose.

Police were the first to arrive, Hamner said, and found a woman on the ground and a man trying to revive her.

Court records indicate the woman, 31, had overdosed on heroin and was reported to be “dying” by the person who called 911.

“They took over on chest compressions,” the chief said, and responders learned she had overdosed on drugs.

Once medics arrived, they took over the resuscitation efforts.

The woman didn’t appear to be breathing at first, Hamner said.

But a Bainbridge police officer who had been trained in using NARCAN, a drug used to treat opioid overdoses, grabbed a package of the nasal spray out of his patrol car and used it on the woman. It took two doses.

“There was a color change in her face — an ashen look — and it appeared she was not breathing,” Hamner said.

“He did the first one, and as soon as he did the second one, she was coming back,” the chief said.

“We consider that a save. She did survive,” Hamner said.

While the woman was being treated, however, her companion had gone back to sit in his Ford Mustang, parked at the edge of the parking lot at Ordway.

The situation took an unexpected turn when Roberts started the car’s engine, and police told him he couldn’t leave.

Roberts then refused to talk to police, according to court records, and began reaching for the car’s center console.

A Bainbridge officer thought he was reaching for a weapon, and pulled out his gun. He told Roberts to show his hands and turn off the car, but Roberts refused and allegedly said, “C’mon man, don’t do this, I need to go.”

He then accelerated, striking the officer as he drove off.

Hamner said it was a “glancing blow” that did not seriously injure the officer.

One of his fellow officers jumped into his patrol car and began pursuing the man down Madison Avenue.

The officer called off the pursuit, Hamner said, as the driver approached downtown.

A few minutes later, the man’s vehicle was successfully pinned in by a deputy sheriff’s car and another Bainbridge unit on Winslow Way in front of Eagle Harbor Congregational Church.

The Bainbridge officer who shot Roberts was placed on administrative leave shortly after the shooting. He has not been identified.

The Bremerton Police Department is conducting a review as an independent, outside agency.

Roberts had been facing earlier charges in Kitsap County Superior Court for second-degree theft.

Authorities allege that he stole four computer laptops from the Best Buy in Silverdale in December.

A store employee who outside the store on a break saw Roberts leave the Best Buy after taking the computers and took a photograph of the Ford Mustang he was driving.

Police later traced the license plate number to Roberts and also obtained surveillance video from the store that showed him stealing the computers.