Two Bend homeless camp residents accused of assaulting, threatening golf course workers over stray golf balls
DCSO says 'melee' involved man, woman upset balls were being hit over driving range nets
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Two residents of homeless camps on Bend's south end were arrested and jailed on menacing and other charges, accused of confronting and assaulting two teen employees of an adjacent golf course, upset that balls were being hit over the driving range netting, authorities said Friday.
Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched Wednesday evening around 6 p.m. to the Lost Tracks Golf Club on the reported assault, Sergeant Jason Wall said. Initial reports indicated the 42-year-old woman and 47-year-old man live in homeless camps on Forest Service land bordering the golf course.
An investigation determined the woman confronted one of the golf course workers (two Bend males, ages 16 and 18) about golf balls being hit over the driving range netting, Wall said. During the confrontation, she allegedly screamed obscenities at the juvenile and eventually began chasing him as he tried to leave.
The woman then allegedly confronted the older golf course worker, striking him in the head with her fist, the sergeant said. The employee defended himself and was able to eventually restrain the woman while other golf course workers called 911.
During the “melee,” as Wall described it, the man arrived, walking over from his camp trailer. Several witnesses told deputies he was armed at the time with a machete, which he pulled from its sheath “and brandished it in an aggressive manner toward the employee restraining” the woman, the sergeant said in a news release.
“The employee, being afraid for his own safety and the safety of others present, opted to release” the woman, and both she and the man returned to their nearby camps, Wall said.
The man was located a short time later and booked into the county jail on charges of unlawful use of a weapon and menacing. The woman was contacted Thursday and also was arrested and booked into the jail, on charges of fourth-degree assault and menacing.
