Seattle firefighter accused in attack on homeless has history of aggression

SEATTLE -- Two off-duty Seattle firefighters and a female Amazon employee have been accused of beating two homeless men in Occidental Park at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Witnesses allege it was the woman, Amazon senior finance analyst Mia Jarvenin, who started it.

"We believe Ms. Jarvenin was an instigator in this.  Multiple witnesses say she is the primary assailant.  This is a vicious, unprovoked attack on a defenseless person.  The allegation is she kicked away a man’s food and then kicked him multiple times while he was lying on the ground," said deputy King County prosecutor Jessica Munca in court documents Monday.

A police report said that the first firefighter, Robert Howell, started punching the victim and then stomped on him as he lay on the ground.  Later, the report said, the other firefighter, Scott Bullene, allegedly grabbed a homeless man’s wooden walking staff and started beating him, striking him on the top of the head.

"On behalf of the men and women of the Seattle Fire Department, I apologize for the violence that took place in Pioneer Square this weekend.  The actions these two firefighters are accused of are not representative of the conduct we expect of Seattle firefighters," Fire Chief Gregory Dean said a news conference Monday.

Documents said that after the altercation, Bullene told officers "he just wanted to leave" and "not to call the Fire Department."

This isn’t the first time Bullene is accused of being aggressive.  In 1995 in Florida, he was arrested for discharging a firearm in public.  In 2012, Seattle police say, he and Jarvenin were involved in a road rage incident where they claimed to have a firearm.

In March 2013 in Shoreline, an accident report shows Bullene "gunned" his vehicle across two lanes of traffic, hitting another car, then pulled over and yelled "What the f*** are you doing?" to the other driver.

Q13 FOX News called that other driver Monday. He did not want to be named, but emailed an account of what he said happened:

"On March 15, 2013, while driving on I-5, I changed lanes to the right as I prepared for my upcoming exit. I observed the pick-up truck behind me suddenly speed up and tailgate me. The driver changed lanes and accelerated to drive parallel to my vehicle. I looked over and observed the male driver giving me the middle finger. He then accelerated again and cut over into my lane, running into the front quarter panel of my vehicle in the process."

"The driver, Scott Bullene, immediately jumped out of his truck and ran full speed toward my driver's side window, screaming obscenities at me in an apparent rage. Thankfully, the entire incident was witnessed by a Metro bus driver, who briefly stopped and seemed to be enough of a distraction to Mr. Bullene that I felt a bit less threatened by him. Scott Bullene was cited for an unsafe lane change and held responsible for the damages, but to the best of my knowledge the road rage issue was never addressed despite my request to the responding officer. I fully believe Mr. Bullene intentionally ran his truck into me, and I wouldn't even want to speculate what he might have attempted to do next had the Metro bus driver not stopped.

"After hearing about what took place at the Fallen Firefighter's Memorial a year after my own experience with Mr. Bullene, I can honestly state I am not at all surprised that he demonstrated rage against an innocent victim again, and unfortunately this time the damage went beyond vehicular. It is my hope this incident serves as a wake-up call to Mr. Bullene to get the help he so obviously and desperately needs to address his anger management issues, so this can be the last issue and not just the next in a series."

Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean said he was unaware of Bullene’s aggressive history.

"Each time one of our members is involved in something like that, they’re supposed to report that back to us.  I was not aware until earlier today of the incident in 2012, and the second incident, this is the first time I’ve heard of it also," said Dean.

Dean added that he will take all that information into consideration during this investigation.  Both men are on disability right now.  Howell was already on disability prior to Saturday’s incident and Bullene is now on disability due to stab wounds received in the altercation.  Dean said both men will be placed on administrative leave during this investigation.

Howell joined the Seattle Fire Department in 1997; Bullene in 1999.

Amazon did not respond when asked for a comment on Jarvenin’s arrest.  he will be back in court on Wednesday. Her bail was set at $20,000, and she bailed out of the King County Jail on Monday night.