Bellingham woman pursuing no-contact order assaulted with crowbar at work, police say
Bellingham police were forced to break open a door this week and use a Taser on a man who was attempting to assault a woman with a crowbar at her workplace.
Jeff Orlando Enriquez, 35, broke into the woman’s office building with the crowbar and swung it at her head around 7:54 a.m. Tuesday, according to Megan Peters with the Bellingham Police Department.
The woman was able to get her hands up to protect her head, and the crowbar hit her palms. She was then able to pull the crowbar away from Enriquez, Peters said.
Using a rope, Enriquez tied the doors closed, preventing the woman from escaping, and police from entering. When police arrived, officers broke the handle the rope was tied to and forced open the door, Peters said. Officers used a Taser to incapacitate Enriquez when he failed to listen to their commands, and he was taken into custody.
The woman had told police about Enriquez earlier that morning when she called 911 at 7:15 a.m. to report he was following and harassing her. When an officer arrived, Enriquez refused to speak with him and drove off, Peters said.
The woman told the officer Enriquez was a former coworker who separated from the company a month earlier. Since then, he had been sending her unwanted texts, phone calls and emails. He had also been following her during her work rounds since he separated from the job, according to Peters.
The woman was in the process of applying for a court-issued no-contact order. She told Enriquez not to contact her and blocked him on all devices.
After speaking with police in the morning, she left the scene and headed to work, where the assault later occurred.
Enriquez was arrested on suspicion of stalking, second-degree assault, first-degree burglary, unlawful imprisonment, third-degree malicious mischief and harassment. He was still in custody at Whatcom County Jail as of Wednesday afternoon.
Resource
Legal Voice (legalvoice.org) offers information and advice for stalking victims in Washington.
This story was originally published July 24, 2024 at 1:07 PM.
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