By Guy Kovner
The Press Democrat
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — A Santa Rosa police officer responding to a report of alleged drug use was stabbed in the arm during physical confrontation with two females late Friday night at an apartment on Fourth Street, police said.
Officer Andrew Van Gundy sustained a minor puncture wound to his left forearm and was treated and released from a local hospital, police said Saturday.
The weapon, a pair of scissors found on the apartment floor just inside the front door, penetrated the officer’s uniform, undershirt and skin, Sgt. Justin Farrington said in a press release.
Farrington said the officer realized he had been stabbed after he and another officer had placed the alleged assailant, an 18-year-old woman, and a juvenile female in handcuffs.
The episode began with a police response to a report near midnight of teens under the influence of marijuana and possibly LSD at an apartment in the 1100 block of Fourth Street.
Officers encountered the mother of one of the teens, who said her daughter had called and asked her for a ride home, Farrington said. The mother said her daughter was under the influence of marijuana and had also used LSD with two other teens in the apartment.
Van Gundy went to the apartment door, which was ajar, and began talking with the occupants, he said.
One of the occupants, identified as Bethany Weir, 18, of Santa Rosa, ran toward the officer and began punching at him. Weir allegedly “punched at the officer several times” before being subdued, Farrington said.
The juvenile, who also began punching the officer, was handcuffed by a second officer, he said.
Evidence of marijuana use “was in plain sight inside the apartment,” he said.
Weir and the juvenile were taken by ambulance to a hospital to be checked for the influence of drugs. Neither was injured, Farrington said.
Weir was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and for being under the influence of a controlled substance and was booked into the Sonoma County Jail.
The underage female was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer and released to her mother with a citation.
———
©2017 The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)