Bainbridge Island Police Department Women’s Self-Defense Instructor Charged with Domestic Violence 

Bainbridge Island Police Department Sergeant Charles McCarty has been placed on administrative leave pending a criminal investigation after he was arrested in Seaside, Oregon in April and charged with domestic violence assault, harassment, and DUI after allegedly pushing his girlfriend down onto concrete.

McCarty, who served as a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy for 17 years before he joined Bainbridge Island PD in 2018, serves as a weapons instructor for the department, providing instruction in firearms, Tasers, active shooter response, and women’s self-defense according to a BIPD report.

Bainbridge Island Chief of Police Joe Clark says McCarty has been relieved of duty in accordance with department policy, and he will remain on administrative leave pending the outcome of court proceedings and the department’s internal investigation. Chief Clark did not respond to specific questions as to whether McCarty had been relieved of BIPD weaponry or referred to a domestic violence specialist per internal policy.

According to the probable cause report from the Seaside Police Department that prosecutors used to charge McCarty with domestic violence assault, a witness called police and said he saw McCarty push his girlfriend down onto the concrete near Seaside’s historic beachfront promenade late in the evening on April 19. When an officer arrived, the witness pointed out McCarty. When approached, the report says McCarty “denied any argument between his girlfriend and him,” and said he was staying at the Best Western Hotel.

Another officer went to the hotel to contact the girlfriend. He overheard a woman later identified as McCarty’s girlfriend saying something similar to “I won’t tell them you pushed me” as a lobby elevator opened. She told police she was McCarty’s girlfriend. She had cuts to her elbow and thumb and a red mark on her knee, which police concluded was the result of McCarty pushing her down onto the concrete.

Additional details regarding McCarty’s arrest and charges of harassment and DUI are presently unavailable, though The Stranger is awaiting the results of a public information request made to the Seaside Police Department regarding McCarty’s arrest. 

According to a Clatsop County Jail arrest and booking report obtained by The Stranger through a public information request, McCarty was booked into jail early on April 20 and released later that day. McCarty’s place of employment, the Bainbridge Island Police Department, is redacted in the booking report.

McCarty pleaded not guilty to the domestic violence assault and harassment charges, both misdemeanors, in Clatsop County Circuit Court on May 20. A week later, he pleaded not guilty to DUI. On June 5, he changed that plea “no contest” and entered a DUI diversion program. The court also granted McCarty’s request to modify a no-contact order “to allow non-offensive communication and supervised in-person contact with the alleged victim while defendant is attending treatment.”

According to a spokesperson from the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, Bainbridge Island PD reported McCarty’s arrest to them as is required by state law, particularly for domestic violence charges. The investigation does not yet appear in the WSCJTC’s public case list, as it is under review until the criminal prosecution concludes and Bainbridge Island PD sends the commission their final internal investigation. 

Washington passed a law requiring law enforcement agencies to establish procedures to address domestic abuse in their ranks the year after Tacoma Police Chief David Brame murdered his wife Crystal Brame in 2003 and then killed himself in front of their children.

A case management hearing on McCarty’s domestic violence and harassment charges is set for August 5 per court records.

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