An Oak Harbor police officer happened down Pioneer Way in the nick of time Sunday.

In the early morning hours, officer Patrick Horn interrupted a tense scene in which a shirtless man speaking “gibberish” was threatening two women with a knife, according to court documents.

The suspect, later identified as Reginald McDaniel, threw his knife down and walked away after seeing the police car headed his way, the police report states.

He was arrested in Oak Harbor Tavern a short time later.

McDaniel, 22, appeared in Island County Superior Court Monday afternoon.

Judge Vickie Churchill said she found probable cause to hold McDaniel on suspicion of two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of making threats to kill. She ordered him held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Eric Ohme said McDaniel is from Mississippi and his criminal history includes a felony conviction on a marijuana-related charge.

McDaniel’s attorney, Corinne Clarke of Coupeville, said he’s living in Oak Harbor with a sister and is trying to find a landscaping job.

Officer Horn wrote in his report that he was on routine patrol at about 12:43 a.m. Sunday when he encountered McDaniel and the two women on Pioneer Way.

McDaniel, shirtless, was shouting at the two women with his hands in the air.

McDaniel grabbed his shirt and walked away when he saw the police car. He allegedly threw a knife on the road near parked cars.

The two women told the officer that they didn’t know McDaniel, but he approached them as they were standing on a corner. He allegedly starting touching one of the women and “smacked her” on the butt four or five times.

McDaniel started talking “gibberish” and asked them, “Do you know whose block this is?” and “Do you know who I am?”

The women said McDaniel took off his shirt and began yelling at them, saying he was going to kill them and their family, according to the report.

Another man they didn’t know intervened and tried to stop McDaniel; McDaniel pulled a knife from his pocket and waved it around in a threatening manner, according to the report.

At that point Horn showed up and McDaniel took off.

Horn reported that McDaniel was “very belligerent” after he was arrested and appeared to be very intoxicated.

He threatened the officers and claimed to be a member of the Crips gang, the report states.