Police arrested a 64-year-old woman on the Oregon coast after a quarrel over one of Lincoln City’s famed glass floats put a crack in an otherwise calm day on the sand.
Officers arrested Michelle Dorcas Evans Wednesday morning after an altercation with a man over the blown-glass keepsake ended in her allegedly attacking him with a piece of driftwood, court records show.
Evans pleaded not guilty to four charges, including accusations of fourth-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon, on Thursday, records show.
City police responded to reports of a disturbance near the Siletz Bay Lodge just after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Dispatchers received calls from both Evans and the man after the incident, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The man told police that Evans assaulted him after they both spotted a glass float on the beach. He claimed that Evans hit him in the back with a stick several times and ripped his jacket during the exchange.
Evans said the man rushed past her when they noticed the float, pushing her to the side, records show. She told police that she had “no recollection” of hitting him with the piece of driftwood, which police said she was carrying during an interview at the scene. Evans told authorities that the stick did get caught on the man’s jacket and that she ripped trying to pry the driftwood free.
A bystander reported seeing Evans hit the man in the back with a stick before they ran out of sight, and said she did not see the man push Evans during the exchange.
Evans and her attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hunting for Lincoln City’s decorative glass floats is a decades-old, usually positive, beach tradition on the Oregon coast. The art pieces are scattered along nearby beaches every year as part of the city’s Finders Keepers program, and it’s proven popular among locals and tourists alike.
A Lincoln County Circuit Court judge released Evans from jail and ordered her not to contact the man, records show. Her next court date is June 1.
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