Man pleads not guilty to recorded attack on stranger at Lakewood Dairy Queen

LAKEWOOD, Wash. – A 47-year-old man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he cold-cocked a stranger at a Lakewood Dairy Queen earlier this summer.

Marlin Stoumbaugh is charged with second-degree assault related to an attack that was widely circulated on social media after surveillance video was released.

The victim, Garrett Harrell, and a worker at the DQ both told Q13 News at the time that the attack was unprovoked, and that Harrell and the attacker had been bantering while they were waiting for their food.

“It felt like someone hit me with a baseball bat; total surprise, no warning, no altercations,” Harrell said at the time.

According to court documents, Harrell suffered a subarachoid hemorrhage and traumatic bleeding in his brain, and spent two days in the hospital.

“It makes me feel disgusted that somebody would take an action totally unprovoked,” Harrell said.