Fire official charged in coffee-mug attack

KEY CENTER, Wash. – A local fire commissioner was charged with second-degree assault Wednesday after another commissioner was attacked with a coffee mug, the latest outbreak in a feud that a Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman says needs to end “before someone gets killed.”

During a break in a meeting at the Fire Protection District 16 headquarters west of Tacoma on Tuesday morning, Commissioner Allen Yanity, 61, got into a heated exchange with Commissioner Jim Bosch, 64, as the two Lakebay residents were standing with their wives at a coffee table, sheriff’s Detective Ed Troyer said.

In the ensuing scuffle, investigators said Yanity bashed Bosch repeatedly in the head with a coffee mug. A cut on Bosch’s head required staples to close, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by prosecutors Wednesday.

Yanity said he didn’t know exactly what happened during the struggle but that he might have hit Bosch with a coffee mug, according to the affidavit.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge during a brief hearing in Superior Court. Judge Marywave Van Deren allowed Yanity to remain free on $10,000 bail he posted Tuesday after being arrested.

Yanity declined to comment after the hearing. He told Seattle television station KING that the fight began after his wife and Bosch exchanged words and he thought Bosch was raising his hand to strike her.

Bosch was treated by fire district paramedics and taken by ambulance to Tacoma General Hospital for stitches and other treatment.

The third commissioner, Chairman Rick Stout, said he didn’t see the fight because he was in the restroom.

The district serves about 18,000 residents and has 21 full-time firefighters, 30 volunteers and six stations.

Yanity, elected to the panel last year, has accused Bosch of trying to force him off the commission by extortion. Bosch, first elected in 1998, has accused Yanity of harassing and intimidating him.

Both men previously filed criminal complaints against each other over an anonymous letter accusing Yanity of sexual harassment in Alaska and demanding that he resign from the commission. Bosch wanted to introduce the letter during a closed-door session last month, and Yanity stormed out.

That case remains under investigation by sheriff’s deputies.

Yanity’s wife, Lanetta, told the Seattle Times the feud began after he proposed policies requiring firefighters to undergo drug testing and meet physical-fitness criteria. Bosch, who has two sons in the 21-member fire department and a daughter-in-law who works for the commission, opposed the proposal, she said.

“They need to figure out how to get their organization in order,” Troyer told the News Tribune of Tacoma. “We want this stopped before someone gets killed.”

Joseph F. Quinn, the fire district’s lawyer, was present at the time of the fight and issued an apology on behalf of the agency.

“People get upset, but fisticuffs aren’t appropriate,” Quinn said.

Quinn said Yanity and Bosch had only exchanged words until Tuesday. The fight was quickly broken up by a fire division chief, he added.

Lanetta Yanity said Bosch had been saying nasty things to her during the break, “pushing and pushing and pushing, and I told him to just shut up and leave us alone, and if he didn’t, I would beat the crap out of him.”

She said Bosch raised his arm, she flinched and her husband stepped in because he thought Bosch was going to hit her.