The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Resistant Shoplifter
Just before midnight on Sept. 2, police responded to a shoplifting incident at a store in the 100 block of Mercer Street. Security officers reported that the suspect stole a pack of mixed melon chunks and two bottles of Gatorade. Security stopped the suspect outside the store and he resisted apprehension, but the officers were able to get him back into the office. In the security office, the suspect became resistant again, trying to push past the security officers to escape and even reached into his pocket to pull out a knife. Responding police arrested the suspect for robbery due to his attempts to forcefully flee the store with stolen merchandise. They also seized the knife — a three-and-a-quarter inch butterfly knife. This knife is an illegal weapon, so police also charged the suspect with unlawful use of weapons.
Chair to the Head
Just after 9 p.m. on Sept. 4, a Seattle Police offcer was called to the First Aid area inside the Bumbershoot music festival at the Seattle Center while on foot patrol, where the victim of an assault was being treated for a head injury. The man, who was bleeding from the head, said he’d been in the Seattle Center Armory trying to use a phone charging station when he got into an argument. The other man threw a chair at his head. He chased the suspect until the fight was broken up by security officers. Because there were several third party security companies working the event, police weren’t sure who had broken the fight up and thus weren’t able to talk to the security officers that stopped it. The victim told police he was drunk and didn’t feel the injury on his head. Medics from the Seattle Fire Department responded to the scene and sent the victim to the hospital via ambulance. The responding officer reported that, due to the large number of people attending the event, he wasn’t able to conduct a reasonable search for the suspect.
Hammer Man
Just before midnight on Sept. 7, police responded to a 911 call from a store in the 500 block of Mercer Street reporting a man was swinging a hammer at employees. This was one of at least three 911 calls that police had gotten from the neighborhood reporting the suspect with the hammer. When police arrived, they began a slow pursuit as they followed the suspect on his bike. They eventually caught him and, after speaking with victims and witnesses, arrested him for trespassing and assault. The store employee who called 911 stated that the suspect was sitting inside the front doorway of the store and refused to leave when asked to do so. When the employee told the victim he’d call 911 if he didn’t leave, the suspect swung his hammer at him, almost hitting him in the head. The victim had to duck to avoid being struck. Witnesses supported the victim’s statement.
Unsavory Character
At approximately 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 13, a woman called 911 from a store at First Avenue North and Mercer Street to report she’d just been assaulted. She told police she’d been walking down the sidewalk when a woman threw an open can of soda at her back, hitting her back and getting soda in her hair. She said she wasn’t hurt, but was concerned about the suspect’s criminal activities. Employees of the store said they wanted the suspect trespassed from the store as well. The suspect was still in the store, so police went and spoke with her. She appeared drunk and admitted that she’d thrown the soda at the victim. Police believed she was scared straight by the encounter with them, so they let her go with a warning. The store employees told her to leave and not come back.
Brutal Attack
At approximately 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 9, police were called to the 100 block of Roy Street to respond to an assault on two homeless people. The two victims, who were bleeding profusely from their faces and heads and had head and neck injuries, said they’d been eating dinner in the park near Second Avenue North and Roy Street when a group of three to four men came out of nowhere and attacked them. The suspects beat them and hit them in the heads with a skateboard. One of the victims reported his backpack was stolen, but it later showed up at the hospital with them. The victims reported that at least one of the suspects was staying at the same shelter as them on Roy Street. Officers went to the shelter and spoke with the suspect who said he’d been at the park but left before the attack began. He refused to give police any information on any of the suspects who were involved. Both suspects were admitted to the hospital for treatment including stitches and a CAT scan.