By Caleb Hutton
BELLINGHAM — A Bellingham man has been charged with shattering a patrol car window with a rock, in turn breaking an officer’s laptop, because he was “feeling angry with the police.”
Rene Castro-Maldonado, 20, knocked on the door of the police station at the downtown Whatcom Transportation Authority bus terminal on the evening of March 7, asking to be handcuffed, according to charging documents filed this week in Whatcom County Superior Court.
He confessed he’d just thrown a rock through the front passenger window of a patrol car parked nearby, according to the charges. The rock broke a laptop inside worth $3,200. Castro-Maldonado allegedly told the officers he did it because he was mad at police.
The patrol car was taken out of commission until the window could get repaired.
Castro-Maldonado has had his share of run-ins with local law enforcement: Last year he aggressively approached an officer on North State Street with clenched fists. He spat at the cop — considered a felony assault. In return, he got shot with a Taser and ordered to serve nine months behind bars.
It appears Castro-Maldonado finished serving his sentence for that crime in late January.
He also has a history of burglary, malicious mischief and drug possession.
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