Man arrested after dousing car in gasoline

A 33-year-old Kirkland man was arrested last week on charges of first degree assault and attempted arson after dousing his girlfriend’s car with gasoline and holding off police through a three-hour standoff during the early hours of May 6.

Officers from the Kirkland Police Department Crisis Negotiation Team and Special Response Team (SRT) responded to a report of a domestic violence incident on the 200 block of 10th Avenue South at approximately 12:10 a.m. on May 6, according to a police department press release. The victim, a 26-year-old female Kirkland resident, told officers on the scene that her boyfriend, Robert J. Wolverton, had assaulted her, trapped her in her car in the garage and poured gasoline over the vehicle.

The pair shared the residence, police said.

Police made contact with Wolverton at approximately 2 a.m. and, after several hours of negotiation, he surrendered to officers at the scene and was taken into custody “peacefully and without injury” at approximately 5:10 a.m., according to the release.

Wolverton’s girlfriend said he returned home late in the evening on May 5 and threatened to injure her young dogs when they made noise. She said she feared he would become violent and attempted to leave in her vehicle. Before she could get her car out of the attached garage, he closed the garage door and unplugged the door opener, trapping her.

“While she was trapped in the garage, he went into the house saying he was going to get a gun. He returned and used a gasoline can to douse her car with fuel while she was still inside. He then attempted to set the vehicle on fire with trash from the recycle bin. The victim escaped the garage into the main area of the house and activated a panic alarm,” the release said.