An Oak Harbor police officer wrestled a disorderly woman to the ground in front of passing traffic on Highway 20 on Feb. 22, according to court documents.

A driver in one of the vehicles stopped and helped the struggling officer contact emergency dispatch.

Prosecutors charged the woman, 57-year-old Glenda Lambert, in Island County Superior Court with assault in the third degree, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Lambert was originally scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 24, but that was delayed a day because she was being uncooperative in the jail due to a suspected mental health disability.

On Feb. 25, Lambert made her preliminary appearance in court but continually interrupted the proceedings and refused to cooperate with her attorney, whom she insulted repeatedly. Judge Christon Skinner set her bail at $1,000 and ordered that a mental health professional must interview her for possible commitment to a treatment facility before she can be released from jail.

At about 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 22, an employee at Whidbey Coffee on Highway 20 reported that Lambert had stood in the drive-thru lane and blocked it. When the employee went outside to talk to her, she allegedly yelled at her and chased her back into the business; she locked the door to keep Lambert out, according to a report by an Oak Harbor police officer.

A short time later, an officer found Lambert sitting on a bench in front of the nearby Grocery Outlet. When the officer approached her, she picked up her things and walked across the highway towards Safeway. Lambert threw something at a car, causing it to stop on the highway, and crossed in front of other cars, the report states.

The officer followed her and grabbed her by the arm on the sidewalk near Safeway. She resisted and tried to strike him in the face, which he blocked, the report states. The officer took her to the ground and tried to call for help, but he realized that his radio wasn’t working and tried to get his cell phone to call for backup. A man in a truck noticed the officer was struggling and stopped to help; the officer asked him to call 911, which he did.

The officer kept Lambert pinned to the ground until other officers arrived. They found the officer and Lambert covered in mud. Lambert attempted to head-butt the officer and yelled vulgar terms, the report states.

The report states that Lambert’s behavior has been escalating recently. She was arrested on Feb. 19 for allegedly assaulting a worker at the SPiN Cafe after she was denied services because of her behavior, the officer wrote.