Police officer is stabbed

A transient who failed to register as a sex offender and was wanted on a felony Department of Corrections warrant stabbed a Shelton Police officer in the hand when the officer attempted to arrest him Dec. 5, according to the SPD.

SPD Officer Whitley was treated at the scene and transported to Mason General Hospital for further evaluation, SPD said in a statement.

“The officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to make a full recovery,” according to the statement.

Aaron E. Martinez, 39, was arrested for first-degree assault, failure to register as a sex offender and community custody violations.

A DOC officer spotted Martinez walking in Shelton near I Street and called MACECOM for help.

Whitley responded and Martinez began running near the intersection of Olympic Highway North and D Street, according to SPD.

“Whitley exited his vehicle and started to pursue Martinez on foot while verbally commanding him to stop and telling him he was under arrest,” according to the probable cause document.

“As Ofc. Whitley was just about to grab onto Martinez, he turned left towards Ofc. Whitley with a silver knife in his right hand, blade extended, raised in the air coming down towards Ofc. Whitley, intending great bodily harm,” the document states.

Martinez stabbed Whitley in his left hand, Mason County Sheriff’s Office Detective Dylan Helser wrote in a probable cause document.

Helser went to the scene to help after hearing police radio traffic about the altercation.

“I was approached by Shelton Police officer Whitley, who suffered a laceration on the webbing of his left hand, which was bleeding uncontrollably,” Helser wrote.

The detective provided medical aid to Whitley until EMS responded and took Whitley to the hospital.

“I immediately recognized the male suspect to be Martinez, based on my intimate involvement with him and the Registered sex Offender program,” according to Helser.

Martinez was convicted in Kittitas County in 2019 for two counts of communication with a minor for immoral purposes, resulting in his requirement to register as a sex offender, according to court documents.

He was also convicted for indecent exposure in Franklin County in 2022.

That conviction extended his registration through at least 2032.

Martinez began register-

ing with MCSO in January and became transient in July, requiring weekly, in-person registration, according to a probable cause document.

“In the next several months, Martinez was in and out of custody with the Department of Corrections for failing to comply,” the document states.

He was released from the Nisqually Tribal Jail on Nov. 27 and did not check in with MCSO as required, according to court documents.

He also failed to contact his community custody officer, resulting in a DOC warrant for escaping, the probable cause document states.

Martinez is being held on $250,000 bail and had an initial appearance Friday in Mason County Superior Court before Judge Daniel Goodell.