Suspended Police Officer Arrested

Suspended Newport police officer Mike Barnes was arrested Friday on charges he repeatedly battered his girlfriend and hid a fellow officer’s patrol car for 10 hours.

Barnes is to be arraigned March 5 on one count of third-degree domestic assault, two counts of fourth-degree domestic assault, one count of second-degree malicious mischief and one count of obstructing a law enforcement officer.

The third-degree assault and malicious-mischief charges are felonies.

He is accused of spraining Bobbie Jo Hydorn’s arm by twisting it behind her back, gashing her thigh by throwing a set of keys at her, and badly bruising her by grabbing her leg and yanking her off a couch.

Barnes also is accused of hiding Officer Ernest “Marty” Martin’s patrol car last August, causing a 10-hour search.

Court documents say Hydorn admitted to friends - Priest River, Idaho, police officer Ernie Bauer and his wife, Ann - that she helped Barnes hide Martin’s car. The Bauers said Hydorn made the admission after Ernie Bauer and another law officer speculated at a social gathering that Barnes was responsible for the prank.

The Bauers said Hydorn told them she and Barnes were driving past the Big Wheel Pizza restaurant in Newport when they spotted Martin’s patrol car in the parking lot. She said Barnes believed Martin too often left his patrol car running with the keys locked inside, and decided it would be funny to teach him a lesson.

Barnes and Hydorn reportedly drove to the police station and got a spare set of keys. Then Barnes allegedly drove the patrol car to a field near the Pend Oreille County sheriff’s office - where a jail inmate later spotted it - while she followed in their personal vehicle.

Hydorn reportedly became worried as she and Barnes used a police scanner to monitor the lengthy search. She urged him to report the car’s location, but he refused and told her to keep quiet, the Bauers said.

Pend Oreille County Prosecutor Tom Metzger said Hydorn will not be charged in the patrol-car incident.

Barnes declined to comment on the charges against him.

Martin also declined to comment, except to say that his car was not running although a spare set of keys was locked inside.

Superior Court Judge Rebecca Baker released Barnes without bail Friday on condition that he stay away from the 25-year-old Hydorn and her daughter, who now live in Spokane.

Barnes remains on paid leave from his job. Police Chief Gary Markwardt suspended him in December, when Hydorn told the chief she thought Barnes needed counseling.

Markwardt, who has since been suspended with pay himself in an unrelated investigation of his performance, told Washington State Patrol investigators that Hydorn declined to say why she thought Barnes needed counseling.

The WSP investigators said Hydorn was uncooperative with them, but finally admitted by nodding her head that Barnes injured her on several occasions.

Investigators said she told them it was her fault Barnes got angry, and she felt it would be disloyal to report his actions. She said he didn’t “break” her arm, but agreed he was responsible for several hairline fractures and a sprain that is still painful.

Investigators subpoenaed Hydorn’s medical records when she refused to release them.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CHARGES Barnes is accused of battering his girlfriend, Bobbie Jo Hydorn, and hiding Officer Ernest “Marty” Martin’s patrol car last August, causing a 10-hour search.