Former city councilman Bill Knobloch obtained a restraining order against former council candidate Robert Dashiell after the pair scuffled at last night’s emotionally-charged council meeting.
Knobloch is considering filing formal assault charges against Dashiell, who has twice run for council. The pair have never run against each other but say they dislike each other passionately. They are sharply divided over City Manager Brenda Bauer, who was fired just before the fight broke out.
Dashiell said he was served with Knobloch’s restraining order at around 11 a.m. today. He vowed to file his own restraining order against Knobloch tomorrow.
“We’re both former Navy commanders; we both have egos; we don’t like each other,” Dashiell said. “That’s what it comes down to.”
Knobloch, who declined to discuss the fight on Wednesday, said today that Dashiell blocked his exit from the council chamber and then punched him in the jaw.
“He sucker punched me,” Knobloch said. “I said ‘don’t try that again,’ and then he went at me with both hands up and pushed me.”
Dashiell denies punching Knobloch. He said it was Knobloch who made the first move.
“I said to Bill Knobloch ‘you finally got what you wanted,’ and he said something like ‘I almost got what I wanted, a**hole’ and pushed his finger under my chin,” Dashiell said on Wednesday night, shortly after police were called to City Hall. Dashiell says Knobloch pushed his finger upward, forcing Dashiell’s head back. In response, he shoved Knobloch, who fell over a table near the chamber’s exit.
Former councilwoman Debbie Vann was knocked to the floor during the scuffle.
Police made no arrests on Wednesday and advised the men to stay at least five feet apart.
Knobloch and Dashiell said they made a “gentleman’s agreement” not to make a big deal of the fight.
But Knobloch says Dashiell broke the agreement when he detailed the fight to me last night. After reading Dashiell’s account in the Bainbridge Conversation, Knobloch decided to seek a restraining order.
“He’s always been after me,” he said, referring to Dashiell’s frequent criticisms of him in online newspaper and blog comment sections.
The restraining order means Dashiell must stay 500 feet away from Knobloch.
“That means we can’t be at (city) meetings together, and if I’m at the grocery store and he comes in, then I have to leave,” Dashiell said.
Dashiell said he won’t seek charges against Knobloch. That is, unless Knobloch seeks charges against him.
“It’s tit for tat,” he said.
Tristan, sorry there’s nothing for you to write about.
Howard Beal said it well about BI: “I’M MADE AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE.” YouTube calling for Mayor’s Recall captures how little things have changes after a vote for change in government and hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance and talent search. YouTube: Deceit, deception, RECALL Mayor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz-e3n68VT8
Uhm, a punch in the jaw is not a sucker punch, …jus’sayin’
How about this pair both staying 500ft away from any Bainbridge Island City Council meeting? Silly old men wasting police and now court time with this sort of nonsense…. Grow up!
When the city council is in session I think we should have a sign placed on the door (and in the street outside city hall) that says: Drive slowly, children at play.
I would hope the citizens of Bainbridge Island would wake up to the problems the city council is causing and ask for a recall vote of the entire council. They are coming off as a dysfunctional family of brats in need of adult supervision.
Since I was more than an eye witness, there was no “punch”. If there would have been one, Mr. Knobloch would have been all too eager to show his marks or a bruise or something running red. Just didn’t happen the way he is trying to twist the story.
I was carrying my camera with a lot of glass in a telephoto lens… I’m right handed, and it was in my right hand. Fire Department medics would have been required if I would have punched him with 14 inch, 6 pound camera in my hand.
Once he put his finger under my chin and had his face about 3 inches from mine and swearing at me, I pushed him backward.
Mr. Knobloch has an Irish temper, and he momentarily lost it.
And considering the stunningly dysfunctional meeting, this personal dust up was just a minor side show.
The real story is what happened on the dais and in executive session, and the almost equally stunning resignation of attorney Dan Mallove from the the head of the Utility Advisory Committee.
Wow. I think that statement pretty much sums it up…. So, will we next be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or part of Jay Leno’s opening monologue? After all, this is in reality, simply a joke! And the tax payers of this island are the brunt of it.
This is such political theater. The guy files for a restraining order and then he can force the other guy out of future government meetings using it.
As I understand it, two grown men were fighting over the last can of Ensure at the building’s beverage machine. In retaliation, the loser of beverage fight proceeded to steal all of the toilet paper in the men’s restroom, and cut the power to the lights..
This caused a man to faceplant in the dark, leaving him with a slight indentation on his chin.
Upon further reflection, I believe the best way to handle the situation is to settle it by means of physical combat.
BUT seriously ,
It would be nice of if Knoblauch could get the other guy convicted. That guy would forfeit his military pension. That’s one less freeloader on the books…….
I couldn’t help but chuckle at this story. It seems like BI politics have always stirred things up. I have been “blogging” about the Island – that is – about the WWII years and the decade thereafter because that is when I lived there. Well-known Islanders then too,
were known to “pop off” one another at Council meetings. In fact, brawls seemed to be popular social events – at the Foster Park dances, taverns, country club parties – the Island’s special character doesn’t seem to have been lost over the years!!