Seattle Crazies Tell Me: “We’re Coming For You” — Check Out These Pics And Short Video

Remnants of pie stick to Tim Eyman’s face and neck Wednesday after activists opposed to his initiative unexpectedly smashed two pies in his face on the Capitol Campus.

Protest leaves Eyman with pie on his face

BY BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA — Two fruit pies were slammed into the face of initiative sponsor Tim Eyman on Wednesday by two unidentified men in the Capitol.  It added a hint of violence Wednesday to what is shaping up as another lively political debate this fall involving Eyman.

Eyman was hit squarely in the face with the pies as he left the Secretary of State’s Office just before noon after dropping off more than 186,000 signatures for his measure.  More than a dozen activists were waiting for him.  The State Patrol is investigating the incident as a misdemeanor assault said Capt. Eric Robertson, the agency’s chief spokesman.

He said one trooper and a trooper cadet were with Eyman, at the request of the Secretary of State’s office, but neither caught the perpetrators, sticking with Eyman instead to be sure he was not hurt.

“Clearly that was assaultive behavior. It is assault in the fourth degree,” Robertson said.

Eyman said the pie-in-the-face assault crossed the line of free speech. He said it followed threats on his family by other activists outside his Mukilteo home in March.

“It wasn’t a throw. It was smashed into my face,” Eyman said.

But Eyman, who vilified politicians at every turn last fall in his victorious campaign to cut car license fees to $30, sidestepped the question when asked if that vilification wasn’t exactly what was happening to him now.

He said his adversaries went over the line of protected free speech — “when they start threatening my family and physically assaulting me.”

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SEATTLE PI: “It was like a punch,” Eyman said after the assault-by-baked-goods. “They jammed it in, rubbed it in. Whatever it is, it still burns.” The doctor from Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle said Eyman suffered corneal abrasions and chemical burns to his right eye. “Physical assault isn’t part of the First Amendment,” Eyman said, remnants of pie drying on his neck and shirt. “The most surprising thing is that our opponents think physical assault is going to swing more people to their side.” Protesters couldn’t hide their delight. Cherie Tessier, a protester who was nearby, didn’t see the pie strike but she was laughing as she left the Capitol. “I think it’s funny. I think it’s neat really,” she said. “He’s done damage to people.”

SEATTLE TIMES: His right eye was blackening, and he said his vision was blurry. Jim Longley, who helped organize the protest, said “It’s funny, and the guy deserves it when he is being a chicken and he won’t come out and talk the issues with us, and it’s understandable someone might get frustrated with him,” Longley said.

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They’re completely unhinged: