Three charged after dramatic EHS walkout, assault
Published 1:45 pm Monday, March 16, 2026
Three local juveniles were recently charged after the recent Enumclaw High School walkout against Immigration and Customs Enforcement ended in an adult being allegedly assaulted by a participant.
One of the juveniles, 12, is being charged with third-degree assault; the second, 17, is being charged with third degree assault and obstruction; the third, also 17, is being charged with fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest.
All three will have their arraignments on March 25.
The Enumclaw Police Department also recommended various charges of obstruction and harassment for four additional juveniles to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. However, as they are minors being charged with misdemeanors, state law requires these cases be diverted to a youth justice program.
The Feb. 13 walkout was largely non-violent, although students often used vulgar language or hand gestures when they saw pro-ICE passersby; one such target was a black truck flying a large Confederate flag that followed the students for the the nearly-two mile walk they made from the high school to Enumclaw’s City Hall.
In the afternoon, three non-local adults arrived at the protest; one man, who described himself as a “gonzo journalist” inserted himself into a group of students to film them.
The man appeared to say something that agitated the already-rowdy group, and they began chanting and yelling at him as he stood on a concrete block, looking down at the students.
Eventually, the man came down off the block and pulled out an emergency whistle; he began to approach students as he blew the whistle, and did not appear to make any attempt to disengage.
One of the students he approached appeared to tell him to “back off”; when he whistled again, the student allegedly punched the man in the head, causing him to drop his sunglasses and his phone.
The man continued to interact with the students, claiming assault and that the alleged assaulter was going to jail.
He eventually began to walk off, but a group of students ended up chasing him down the street.
About 15 minutes later, EPD officers moved to arrest the suspect; she ran a block and stopped in the middle of the Porter Street and Myrtle Avenue intersection, where she was brought to the ground.
During her escort to the Enumclaw jail, about a dozen students surrounded the officers; EPD Chief Tim Floyd said in a Facebook post made after the incident that he was “extremely proud” of his officers and professionalism and restraint “while getting pushed, kicked at, spit at and called significantly derogatory names.”
Early on in the escort, another student appeared to throw herself at officers’ feet; she was also arrested.
The Courier-Herald typically does not name juveniles who have been charged with a crime.
The EPD decided to recommend seven juveniles be charged after reviewing footage of the incident.
“When numerous videos surfaced from the incident showing different angles and crimes that had occurred that we hadn’t previously seen I decided we would investigate them to the fullest extent possible, identify the suspects and file charges out of custody,” EPD Chief Tim Floyd said. “It is not acceptable to spit on or assault police officers or obstruct their law enforcement efforts. As I had mentioned earlier, assaultive behavior towards an EPD officer will not be tolerated, ignored, or go undealt with.
“We support everyone’s constitutional right to free speech, and our arrests were not made to silence voices or opinion. They were strictly in response to criminal activity that unfortunately took place at the protest,” he continued. “The actions of a few ended up overshadowing the message of the larger group. The harsh words and poor behavior of a small group of people at the protest was not a reflection of our community values, or a reflection of the majority of upstanding juveniles within our community.”
FELONIES
According to court documents, one of the 17 year-olds is being charged with fourth degree assault for allegedly punching the man with the emergency whistle.
The man “had a quarter size lump above his left eyebrow, that was red and swelling,” the police report reads.
She is also being charged with resisting arrest; according to police documents, she allegedly “tried multiple times to break loose… throwing her shoulders [into officers]… [and] refusing to lay on the ground” as she was arrested.
The other 17 year-old is being charged with third degree assault and obstruction when she allegedly spat on a officer and attempted to hinder officers as they took the arrested juveniles to the Enumclaw jail.
According to the police report, the juvenile was seen on footage running up to an officer “and spit on him.”
“In the video you can clearly see [her] head cock back prior to spitting… you can clearly see the saliva land on Officer [Trevor] Pourchot’s uniform. At that time Officer Pourchot was unaware of the assault but located the saliva on his uniform later in his shift.”
The same juvenile was also “extremely verbally abusive and aggressive,” and interfered with officers to the point one EPD officer had to place one hand behind her back and also escort her to the jail, although she was released instead of booked.
After she was released, she continued to push through the chain link fence and “force her way into the jail”.
The 12 year-old is also being charged with third degree assault for allegedly spitting on an officer.
According to the police report, again citing footage of the incident, the juvenile jumped to get her head above the jail wall and spit onto Detective Sergeant Grant McCall.
“In the video you can clearly see the saliva exit her mouth and fly through the air at Sergeant McCall. At the time of the incident, he was unaware this assault took place,” the report reads. “…[W]hile at home he inspected his uniform and found the spit on the right shoulder of his uniform which was the shoulder that was facing her during the assault.”
Local juveniles in the past charged with felonies have pleaded guilty and received deferred sentences.
An example includes the Enumclaw High student who made a bomb threat against the school on Valentines Day 2022. She was charged with a Class B felony, but pleaded guilty to the lesser crime of felony harassment, and her sentence was deferred for a year.
However, her contract with the court system allowed for the deferral to be dismissed after six months if she kept her various appointments, stayed in school, and write an essay on school shootings and bombings.
DEFERRALS
Under state law, the four juveniles that were charged with misdemeanors had their cases diverted to King County’s Diversion and Partnership for Youth Justice program and its Partnership for Youth Justice program.
The Partnership for Youth Justice program works with juveniles charged with low-level crimes (or charged for the first time) and prosecutors to create and then complete a Diversion Agreement; failing to complete the agreement, which may include community service, engaging in mental health services, or restitution, may result in charges being filed in the traditional juvenile court system.
