Police: Man arrested in ‘unprovoked’ knife attack in Petaluma

Authorities pulled a man out of the Petaluma River and arrested him Monday night after he slashed another man with a knife outside a downtown Petaluma restaurant and tried to escape police by swimming away, officials said.

The "unprovoked attack“ happened at about 8:45 p.m., after an employee at a restaurant on Kentucky Street called 911 to report an aggressive person with a knife outside the business, said Petaluma Police Lt. Nick McGowan.

The man fled and a group of people followed him as they waited for police to arrive, McGowan said.

At one point, the man turned around and slashed one of the men following him with what was described as a fixed-blade hunting knife, according to McGowan.

The man had a minor cut on his hand and was treated by the Petaluma Fire Department, McGowan said.

When police arrived, the man with the knife jumped into the river and began swimming downstream, McGown said.

A Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office helicopter crew tracked him from above while police and firefighters began motoring after him in a Petaluma Fire Department boat, according to McGowan.

“He no longer had the knife and was getting fatigued” as he swam, McGowan said. Authorities in the boat “grabbed him by the arms and pulled him in.”

The man refused to give authorities his name and he had not been identified as of Tuesday afternoon, McGowan said.

He was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, exhibiting a deadly weapon, making criminal threats and obstructing and resisting police.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.