A man police have been on the lookout for since he was identified by a witness as the suspect in a May 19th E Union street robbery was hauled in by police Friday afternoon after an alert officer spotted him near 10th and Pine, two blocks from the East Precinct. According to the SPD blotter post on the arrest, the man was wearing the same backpack identified on the day of the mid-May robbery.

We don’t yet have information on the suspect but will update with more on his background when we have an opportunity to talk with SPD.

According to the report on the May 19th, Saturday afternoon purse snatch, the victim told police she was getting out of her car near the intersection of E Union and Belmont when she was approached by a woman claiming she had been robbed and needing a ride somewhere. As the victim refused and walked away, she was jumped from behind by a man who tried to rip her bag from her shoulder. The victim said she struggled with the suspect who began striking her in the back of the head with his closed fist before she finally let go of the bag and the suspect ran from the scene. A man who saw the attack gave chase and was able to keep up with the suspect and take pictures as he fled.

Immediately following the robbery, police could not find the suspect but were able to track down the woman who had claimed to be robbed. She told officers she did not see what had occurred and provided police with the suspect’s name.

According to SPD, robbery detectives later presented the suspect in a photo montage to the witness and he positively identified him as the correct suspect. SPD reports that detectives checked several possible locations for the suspect but he could not be located and a “wanted robbery bulletin” was distributed to patrol units.

Last Friday, police found their man. He was arrested at 10th and Pine and booked into King County Jail for investigation of robbery.