LONG BEACH — Following an alleged threat to kill a partner, Eugene M. Busenius, 46, was charged with two felonies. The incident unfolded at 12:32 a.m. on Oct. 16 on the 6000 block of Sandridge Road.

The Pacific County Sheriff’s Office responded after a 911 caller reported being threatened and that the suspect took off in a Ford F-150. Officers from the Long Beach Police Department also responded to the call to assist.

A sheriff’s deputy observed a male attempting to gain entry to the caller’s residence, and officers quickly detained Busenius.

Began with an argument

According to court records, Busenius and his girlfriend of two years got into an argument and the woman told him she was going to leave him. He responded by giving her two options that were caught on an audio recording.

“During this recording, you can hear a back-and-forth conversation between Busenius and [the alleged victim] pertaining to option A and option B,” Deputy Lucas Marthaller states in court records. “[The alleged victim] stated Busenius had then taken a handgun out of his rear waistband, and then had ‘racked’ the slide of the handgun.”

“On the recording, I observed with my training and experience to what sounded like a handgun slide being racked. [The alleged victim] had stated to [LBPD] Officer [Anthony] Natsiopoulos that when he had done this, she was frozen in fear,” Marthaller added.

Busenius was allegedly heard on the recording stating that if she called the police, she was the first one he was going to shoot or kill.

Truck crashed into a bog

Officers located Busenius’s truck less than a quarter-mile from the residence stuck in a cranberry bog, which took two hours to extricate. Busenius had allegedly consumed multiple alcoholic beverages, including four beers, four shots of liquor, and potentially an undetermined additional amount of whiskey.

According to court records, Busenius was taken to the LBPD station for a breath test but refused to take the test or sign an advisement of his rights, including an “implied consent warning,” which leads to a revocation of driving privileges.

“While interviewing Busenius, he made several statements that contradicted themselves,” Marthaller states in court records. “Busenius stated he had not been driving the vehicle involved. I then asked, ‘Where were you going before the collision?’ Busenius replied something to the effect of ‘There was not a collision, the truck is in a cranberry bog.’”

“Busenius also stated he was traveling to the Pioneer Store, on Pioneer Road, traveling west starting from Sandridge. Busenius then stated he had consumed [two] beers at approximately 7-8 p.m. with [the alleged victim] at the residence. Busenius stated he had not consumed any alcohol since the incident. Busenius refused the breath test,” Marthaller added.

Busenius was transported to the Pacific County Jail and booked for felony domestic violence harassment with a threat to kill as well as felony DUI. He made a preliminary appearance in the Pacific County Superior Court on Oct. 16 and was released without bail by Judge Pro-Tem Stephen Brown from Grays Harbor County.

Heat at judge’s decision

The release of Busenius without any bail created an uproar on social media after the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release on Facebook on Oct. 18 about the incident. The agency voiced concerns about his potential access to weapons.

“Following the court appearance, concerns for the immediate safety of the victim and the public were raised at the sheriff’s office that the firearm could still be accessible to Eugene,” Cmdr. Michael Parker states in the press release.

“Deputies then applied for search warrants to be executed on the truck and the location of the incident. The search warrants granted search on the truck and the property. A Star semi-automatic 9mm pistol was recovered on the property where the incident occurred,” Parker added.

The details created a storm of social media comments, with many shaming Brown and questioning his decision-making. Others praised the sheriff’s office for taking swift action to prevent further harm being done.

“He was drunk, domestic violence, and wrecked his truck, and he was released?” one person stated in a comment. “He’ll be back there and probably kill the other party! I’ve been down this road! And a protective order does no good! I [rely] on my Second Amendment [firearms rights] now! He will be back!”

Another comment reads, “Excellent, follow through,” regarding the sheriff’s office action.

How it happened

Court records detail the chain of events leading to Busenius’ release without bail. The documents state that Brown accepted pretrial release conditions requested by the Pacific County Prosecutor’s Office during the preliminary appearance.

Pretrial conditions also order that a criminal defendant not have access to or be in possession of any dangerous weapons, including firearms or even ammunition. Another question from this chain of events has emerged — why wasn’t the firearm seized immediately?

Law enforcement within Pacific County has round-the-clock access to judges for search warrants.

Wahkiakum District Court Judge Heidi Heywood, who also occasionally fills in as judge pro tem in Pacific County, regularly makes herself available for search warrants. She has been a go-to judge for officers, including in the middle of the night.

Under the timeline provided by the sheriff’s office, the weapon wasn’t seized until at least late in the day on Oct. 16. The gun was reportedly located and seized on the property of the incident location.

“While this was not the outcome we had hoped for, we made every effort to locate and remove the weapon immediately upon learning of the judge’s ruling,” the sheriff’s office responded to a comment on the Facebook post.