A taxi cab driver fended off a knife attack by forcing a passenger to drop the knife and pulling a pistol on him, Homer Police said in a criminal complaint filed last Thursday. Police arrested Sean K.M. Reagan, 25, for third-degree assault after finding him lying on the floor of a boat at the harbor.

According to the complaint by Officer Jim Knott, a taxi driver called police at about 12:20 a.m. Feb. 13 to report a drunk passenger pulled a knife on him. The cab driver said he had picked up Reagan the night before at Ramp 8 and took him to Kharacters Bar on Pioneer Avenue. Later that night, a bartender at the Down East Saloon called the taxi driver and asked him to pick up Reagan. The driver took him back to Ramp 8. Reagan gave him a $100 bill and the driver gave him $80 in change for the $20 fare.

Reagan then said he had a question, Knott said the driver told him. “Are you f—ing with me?” the driver said Reagan asked. Reagan then pulled a knife. The driver grabbed Reagan’s hand and told him he needed to drop the knife and get out of the car. Reagan threw the knife away and got out of the car, and the taxi driver then pulled his pistol out of a holster and told Reagan to get away, Knott wrote. Knott said the taxi driver said he thought Reagan might try to rob him. Reagan walked away from the driver down Ramp 8.

Knott wrote that in an interview Reagan said he didn’t know what happened and walked away. He initially denied pulling his knife and then said he pulled it and dropped it. Reagan said he dropped the knife “because he didn’t need any more trouble than he was already in,” Knott said Reagan told him. 

According to court records, last November Reagan pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, driving while license revoked and violating conditions of release. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail with 80 days suspended and fined $4,000 with $1,000 suspended. 

In November 2012, Reagan was charged with two counts of third-degree assault, second-degree assault and fourth-degree assault, domestic violence. In a jury trial, a jury found him not guilty on one count of third-degree assault, causing injury, and guilty on the fourth-degree assault charge, but did not reach a verdict on third- and second-degree assault charges. On the same day he was arrested for the incident with the cab driver, the Kenai District Attorney’s office filed a motion to dismiss counts two and three, the third- and second-degree assault charges.

The taxi driver described the knife as being about 4-5 inches long and a fixed blade. Knott said he found a Winchester wood-handled knife with a 5-inch long blade. Reagan also appeared drunk, with slurred speech, bloodshot watery eyes, poor balance and an odor of alcohol.

Reagan is in custody at Wildwood Pretrial Facility, Kenai.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.