A 32-year-old Port Hadlock woman has been charged with fourth-degree assault after she allegedly backhanded her boyfriend in a dispute over DVDs while on the Bainbridge ferry Tuesday.

Police were called to the Bainbridge Island terminal at approximately 4:30 p.m. Aug. 27. Officers discovered that the on-again, off-again couple had been arguing over who owned some DVDs that were in the woman’s purse while they sat in their van aboard the ferry M/V Tacoma.

The woman, identified in court records as Dakota Marie McBride, allegedly smacked her boyfriend, a 54-year-old Sequim man, with the back of her hand.

Officers noticed swelling above the man’s eye, bruising on the side of his face, and fresh scratches on the inside of his right thigh.

The man refused medical aid and would not give a statement to police. He told officers, “I don’t want to get her in trouble.”

McBride — who had a cast on her leg and was using crutches — told police the couple had argued over the DVDs, and she said she did not want her boyfriend going into her purse to get them.

Police said she changed her story during her conversation with officers, then said, “I never hit him. I don’t know, he probably did that to himself.”

Police arrested McBride for assault. On the way to the Kitsap County Jail, she complained of leg pain and an officer stopped at the Bainbridge Island Fire Department’s Station 23 to have her looked at.

She was then taken to Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton for further evaluation before being transported to the county jail for booking.

McBride was charged with fourth-degree assault on Wednesday, Aug. 28 in Kitsap County District Court.

Bail was set at $5,000.