Felony assault charge filed after Oak Harbor Library attack left man unconscious

A daylight fight outside the Oak Harbor Library left a man unconscious and now has 20-year-old Ezekiel E. Egli facing a felony assault charge in Island County Superior Court. The alleged attack happened in one of Oak Harbor’s most visible civic spaces, at 1000 SE Regatta Dr., a setting that has heightened concern because it involved a public library during the late afternoon.

Prosecutors charged Egli on May 20 with assault in the second degree after the confrontation on May 17. According to the case details, a group of young people were at the library when Egli approached a woman he had broken up with earlier that day. When the victim stepped in and told Egli the woman did not want to talk, prosecutors allege Egli punched the man in the face and then strangled him from behind. The victim reportedly lost consciousness, woke up on the ground and, witnesses said, began having a seizure before an ambulance was called.

By the time police arrived, Egli had driven off. Officers later found him parked on Southwest Barlow Street and arrested him. Egli told police he acted in self-defense, saying the victim got into his space, but that account will be weighed against the allegations as the case moves through court. Egli also had a 2024 conviction for second-degree robbery, a prior record that could factor into how the court looks at bail, sentencing and broader public-safety risk.

If convicted on the new charge, Egli could face a standard sentence range of 12 to 14 months in prison, depending on where his offender score lands on Washington’s sentencing grid. State law sets that range by matching the offense seriousness level with the offender score, so the punishment is not automatic but tied to the court’s calculation under the grid.

The case has drawn attention in Oak Harbor, a city of more than 23,000 on northern Whidbey Island, because it unfolded in a place where residents expect normal daytime use, not violence. The Oak Harbor Police Department says public-record requests can include incident reports and body-worn camera recordings, records that may add more detail as the case develops. The filing also comes amid other recent Oak Harbor assault cases, including teen cases reported on May 5 and May 8, putting local safety in civic spaces back in focus.