Transient Accused In Assault With Baseball Bat In Petaluma: Police

PETALUMA, CA — A Petaluma transient was jailed in connection with a suspected assault Wednesday at Steamer Landing Park, police said.

Shortly before noon Wednesday, officers responded to a report of an assault at the park. The victim told police he was sitting on a park bench at Steamer Landing when another man approached him and began to repeatedly hit him with a baseball bat, Petaluma police Sgt. Ryan Suhrke said.

The victim, who called 911 to report the assault, refused treatment at the scene and suffered only minor injuries, the sergeant said.

An investigation revealed the suspect to be 41-year-old transient Jason Weiland. Officers searched for Weiland but were not immediately able to find him.

Later that night at 11:18 p.m., Community Impact Response Team officers were patrolling the Steamer Landing area to look for Weiland as well as contact people at the encampments that community members had been reporting as a nuisance.

CIRT officers searched an area Weiland was known to stay and found him with a female transient.

Weiland was taken into custody and booked into Sonoma County jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

Police said the motive for the suspected assault was still under investigation.

Jail records Friday indicated Weiland was no longer in custody.