A Navy chief is accused of drunkenly grabbing a nurse and striking a hospital security guard this summer after warning that “someone’s gonna die today,” according to police and court records.
In the wake of the June 11 incident, Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Jason D. McFarlin faces multiple criminal charges in both military and civilian courtrooms.
Assigned to the aircraft carrier Nimitz, the 39-year-old’s alleged infractions began that evening in Bremerton, Washington, near the carrier’s home port.
Bremerton Police Department officers responded to an apartment parking lot in the 2000 block of Wheaton Way around 7:50 p.m. after McFarlin’s friend reported that the chief “was very intoxicated, refused to get out of the car and was getting angry,” according to a police report.
The friend told officers he had picked up McFarlin at a Kohl’s department store and brought him to an apartment to “sleep it off.”
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After McFarlin vainly reached for the car keys — his buddy had removed them from the ignition — he “walked into the bushes, falling down about 8 to 10 feet into the wood line on the East (sic) side of the parking lot,” the responding officer wrote.
The friend said that “McFarlin lives on the USS Nimitz during the week but has a home elsewhere out of town for weekends.”
The police officer wrote that he saw the chief in the bushes. When Emergency Medical Service personnel tried to talk to McFarlin, he appeared "extremely intoxicated,” the officer added.
He and the medics dragged the 6-foot 260-pound McFarlin from the vegetation and into the parking lot, according to police and court records.
When a Bremerton Fire Department medic crewman attempted to examine McFarlin, the chief flailed and struck him in the leg, the report states. So the police officer and the medic held down his arms until he calmed down.
“McFarlin was confrontational with fire staff, saying if anybody said anything to his command, something like it would end them or their careers,” the officer wrote.
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McFarlin was transported to nearby Harrison Medical Center but about an hour later police received another call indicating that the chief “was being pinned down by security after assaulting the charge nurse,” according to the report.
McFarlin’s size forced responding officers to use two sets of handcuffs to restrain him.
A nurse later told them she had entered McFarlin’s room and the chief ordered her to “shut the damn curtains,” the police report states.
The 36-year-old woman said she couldn’t do that but then the chief “grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and began to pull her towards him,” the officer wrote.
“She had to quickly get herself out of her jacket in order to get away” from McFarlin, according to the police report.
“He had ill intent in his eyes when he grabbed me,” the nurse said.
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A hospital security guard told police that he entered the room and found McFarlin putting on his backpack.
McFarlin uttered something like “someone’s gonna die today” and then “squared up” with the 62-year-old guard. Then the chief took a sip from a metal bottle, secured the lid on top and swung it at him, the report states.
The guard told the officers that he blocked McFarlin’s blow with one arm and struck his neck with the other before he and other guards took the chief to the deck and pinned him.
“Due to McFarlin’s level of intoxication and probable cause to arrest, he was medically cleared by a doctor to be transported to jail,” the officer wrote.
Given the chief’s “assaultive nature,” police put him in a restraining device called “The Wrap,” but had to remove it when they got to the patrol car because McFarlin was too big to fit in the back with it on.
McFarlin was booked on two counts of 3rd degree assault, with bail set at $20,000.
Kitsap County Superior Court records show a judge approved his pretrial release the following day.
McFarlin’s trial on civilian charges is slated for Nov. 12.
Thomas Weaver — the chief’s criminal defense attorney listed in court records — did not return calls seeking comment.
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In the meantime, the military placed McFarlin on “restriction in lieu of arrest” and charged him with aggravated assault, drunk and disorderly conduct, communicating a threat and two specifications for assault consummated by a battery, according to a Navy charge sheet.
McFarlin’s military attorney also did not respond to requests seeking comment.
The chief’s special court-martial is scheduled for Nov. 18, according to Ensign Blagoj Petkovski, a Nimitz spokesman.
“The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” Petkovski added in an email.
Originally from Utah, McFarlin reported to the Nimitz in September 2017, according to his service records.
He enlisted in 2000 and pinned on chief in 2014.
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
