Kent Police arrested a man for investigation of fourth-degree assault and third-degree theft after he allegedly hit a taxi cab driver with a cane during a dispute and didn’t pay for the ride.

Officers responded to a report of a man with a cane hitting the driver at about 9:48 p.m. on Dec. 6 in the 3800 block of Reith Road, according to the police report.

The passenger told police the driver wanted to hurt him and stopped suddenly while driving along Reith Road and told him to get out. He said he didn’t know why the driver wanted to hurt him.

The driver told officers he had picked the man up at a gas station in SeaTac and the man wanted to go to South 260th Street. But when the driver neared the street, the man wouldn’t give him a specific address. He also didn’t answer how he planned to pay for the ride.

An argument started and the passenger yelled at the driver and called him a racist name. The driver then stopped the car and told the man to get out. The man used his cane to hit the man about three times.

Police noted that the fare totaled $41.60. The passenger denied he had hit the driver.

Vehicular assault

Police arrested a 53-year-old woman for investigation of vehicular assault after she reportedly crashed into another vehicle and injured a passenger in that car after a night of drinking at a bar.

Officers responded to a two-car collision at about 12:53 a.m. on Dec. 6 in the 1600 block of West Meeker Street, according to the police report. The woman allegedly drove westbound on the Meeker Street without her headlights on after leaving the nearby Blinker Tavern, 206 Washington Ave. N. The woman told police she forgot to turn her lights on after leaving the bar.

The woman drove a black Mazda SUV and collided with a silver Audi that had exited a driveway. A passenger in the Audi suffered two spinal fractures. The Audi had severe damage to the driver’s side, according to police. The Mazda had front-end damage.

During an interview with an officer, the woman said she had been drinking since about 7 that evening and had three mixed drinks of whiskey and 7 Up. She said she stopped drinking alcohol at about 11 p.m. and switched to water.

Officers could smell intoxicants coming from the woman. She declined to take a field sobriety test or a preliminary breath test. An officer later that night got a King County District Court judge to approve a warrant to take the woman’s blood at the Valley Medical Center in Renton. The toxicology results to determine the woman’s blood-alcohol level were not yet available. The investigation remained open.

Indecent exposure

Officers arrested a man for investigation of lewd conduct and making a false statement after he reportedly exposed himself at about 2:24 a.m. outside near a stairwell at the Mosaic Hills Apartments, 23928 109th Ave. S.E.

A witness called 911 to report a man who appeared to be masturbating near a stairwell, according to the police report. The man denied he had done anything while near the stairwell.

The man declined to give police his real name. After a search through databases, police determined the man was a level 1 sex offender with a felony conviction for child molestation.

The man reportedly had been staying with a friend at the apartment complex, although that woman denied knowing the man’s last name. She said he had stayed overnight occasionally.

Assault

Police cited a man for investigation of fourth-degree assault after he allegedly punched a former girlfriend as many as five times in the face at about 9:43 p.m. on Dec. 6 at the Cascade Apartments, 20402 106th Ave. S.E.

The woman told police she had dated the man for about one year but broke up with him earlier in the night, according to the police report. The man showed up at her apartment and a dispute started.

Police noticed the woman had blood on her face as well as bruises and cuts on her arms and legs.

The man fled the scene in a white Lincoln and police were unable to find him. Bellevue Police checked an address in Bellevue where the man apparently lived but could not find him.