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- One arrest in Capitol Hill ear assault: SPD has details of an ugly assault Thursday night on 10th Ave E that left a man missing part of his left ear:
Man arrested for biting off another man’s ear off
Written by Detective Renee Witt on August 9, 2013
Officers searched for a man’s missing ear with negative results. Last night just shortly before 10:00 p.m., officers responded to an assault call in the 100 block of 10 Av E. According to the victim the suspect walked into his fenced yard and urinated.
The victim asked the suspect to leave when the suspect’s girlfriend came over and also told the suspect that they should leave. The suspect then began assaulting his girlfriend. The victim pushed the suspect and tried to stop him when the suspect attacked him. During the attack the suspect bit a large portion of the victim’s left ear off.
The suspect then left the area. Officers arrived and conducted a search for the suspect. Officers found him near Cal Anderson Park. The man’s mouth was covered in blood. He was contacted and placed him under arrest without incident. The 21-year-old suspect was booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Assault. The 23 year-old male victim was transported to Harborview Medical Center for treatment.
Officers asked the suspect if he swallowed the victim’s ear. He would not answer but looked up and smiled. An area check for the victim’s ear was negative. - Busted leg assault: A man’s leg was broken in an assault early Sunday morning. The victim told police he was walking south on the 1700 block of Broadway when he saw the suspect traveling the opposite direction. According to the report, the suspect “appeared to be babbling to himself.” When the victim got near the suspect, the suspect allegedly tackled the victim — breaking his leg in the process — and walked north on Broadway.
- Purse snatch related to robbery spree? Two women in their mid twenties were robbed early Sunday morning on the corner of E Seneca St and Broadway Ct. One of the victims told police she was getting into her vehicles when two men approached her, one of whom took her purse. The suspects fled toward a waiting car at Broadway Ct and E Madison St. One victim told police: “I’m Ethiopian, I am not racist. I am certain these were Somalians.” Police believe the IHOP purse snatch may be related to the recent string of gunpoint robberies on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in the city.
- Robbery attempt an “initiation”? The SPD report on this July 29th attempted robbery and assault incident at Pike/Broadway includes an interesting note recorded by the reporting officer that seems to indicate part of the assault was related to an “initiation” —
- Thieves rip off woman’s purse then burgle her apartment: The victim of an early-morning purse snatch at Pike and Broadway last Friday suffered doubly when her 13th Ave E apartment was broken into following the crime:
- Robbery map: Here’s a map of reported street robberies including armed (weapons involved), strong arm (no weapon but force used), business hold-ups and purse snatchings around the Hill since July 1st. We count 28 — some of the icons represent multiple incidents at this view level. In the five weeks previous, there were 14 incidents recorded. You can view the reports and modify parameters on the SPD “My Neighborhood Map” site to make your own partially-informed takeaways on summer crime trends around the Hill.
- 10th/Pike assault: The suspect in a 10th and E Pike assault just before 2 AM last Friday morning surrendered to police for arrest after officers found an unconscious female slumped and bleeding from behind her ear after being punched and hitting her head on the sidewalk. According to the report, the suspect walked up to police as they searched the area as the injured female was transported to the hospital. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault.
- Art school heist: Gage Academy reported a June art theft to police a few weeks after the incident when a student realized two paintings were missing. According to the school, a suspect can be seen on surveillance video walking away with the paintings on June 11th just after 5 PM. The works were valued at $175, according to police.
Wow, a rare time I’m actually shocked by the crime blotter.
This is very disturbing.
It seems that Cal Anderson and the surrounding sidewalks are increasingly owned by vicious, young street thugs like this. I’m getting tired of paying taxes for parks they can camp in and intimidate the rest of us.
I agree regarding Cal Anderson. It needs to be cleaned up. Lately it seems to be holding back the neighborhood rather than enhancing it. Especially at night. If night-time camping is occurring at Cal Anderson, it needs to be stopped, because if it is tolerated (Seattle I think tends to tolerate more than the average major city) it is the first domino in the series which eventually leads to senseless attacks on citizens.
Agree with you that Seattle collectively doesn’t think its tolerance through very well and the locals who support embracing everything have City Hall’s ear these days. Cal Anderson park should be a centerpiece of the city, and it isn’t
What evidence is there that the campers are committing crimes? Sure, the unsightly camps, weed smoke and dogs are a little annoying, but I generally feel safer when the campers are there. It seems that many of the robberies and attacks are being committed by unknowns from off the hill. People are very quick to blame the campers.
It seems possible that the presence of the campers creates the impression the area doesn’t have a strong police patrol presence, and might encourage criminals to target the area for muggings.
There are two kinds of crimes going on here:
The “bitten ear” and “busted leg” assaults sound more like non-robbery-motivated assaults that would be likely to be committed by random street crazies–and some of those people are camped out at cal Anderson and other places in the neighborhood. Then there are the organized robbery gangs, which seem to be driving into the neighborhood to pick off the pigeons. *Both* of these types of crimes are a problem for the normal hill-dwellers (99% of us).
This is what I think:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory
The more unsightly the park is, the more that criminals will think it’s OK to commit crimes there. I think it’s a bunch of crap that I can’t feel safe walking through the park because of the obvious blight and all of the problems that it invites. I would love to see, instead of the park rangers, SPD walking a regular beat through the park.
I’ve always loved my Capitol Hill neighborhood but if I could afford to move I would be looking for a new neighborhood to call home. On the one hand we have all the new disdainful rich with increased prices, on the other hand lots of increased street crime including this disturbing report. Capitol Hill has become the neighborhood to visit and behave badly (either as a drunk or a thug). It’s gotten so much worse in the last six months and it’s very distressing. Something needs to be done to get the addicts and mentally ill into treatment and housing and the predators into accommodations in the prisons.
I’m considering moving to Wallingford or Fremont but first I have to get a passport.
They’ll probably accept a birth certificate :)
Capitol Hill is an example of poorly conceived development with the City buying into the bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, interesting shop, bar, bar ,bar ,bar template those developers were selling. The thug factor partly comes from the consumption of drugs on the Hill, cause someone has to go there and sell them and those someones are often not so awesome people. Your points are well taken as far as I am concerned. I think it will be up to residents who want a safer Hill with business diversity that is actually usable for a community people live in to grind away on the City.
I’d like to report another incident, which occurred inside the Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library at around 3:40 pm today, 08/09/2013.
To the white female in her early to mid 20s who took my MacBookAir 2012 laptop cord: I’d like it back. You can return it to the library staff without further repercussions; they’ll know what to do.
More info about the suspect: The woman had long wavy light brunette hair, blue eyes, and is around 5’9″ and 130-140 lbs. She was wearing a short white dress and big round honey-colored plastic glasses. Her white and blue striped bottoms were visible through the fabric of her garment.
Thank you all in advance for any leads. Fingers crossed that this chick takes pity of a fellow girl who was just trying to finish her long-overdue dissertation.
Try RePC on 6th Ave S in SoDo. You can probably pick up a used power supply for a fraction of the cost of buying a new one.
@Jim98122x: Oooh, great tip–thanks!
The “ear assault” happened on that same block of 10th Ave E (between Denny and John) where there was an armed robbery just a couple of days ago. That is a very dangerous stretch for now….please avoid it!
Yup. Not a safe stretch at all. I’ve been sticking to well-lit arterials if I have to walk around this part of the hill at night.
Stay safe everyone and look out for each other.
The most ridiculous thing about that crime spree: There is a police substation on 12th and Pine. Where is the police presence? It’s not like they have to go far.
It’s not a substation, it’s a full blown precinct!
I’m sad to see the city falling apart, but until there is a general consensus to enforce the laws we have on the books to clean this mess up its going to get worse. SPDs hands are tied, nobody in city hall has the stomach to do what needs to be done.
Try camping in the park in downtown Bellevue and see how long that lasts. It’s insane that people think that’s okay, because frankly, it’s not. If you want to camp, go to the country.
It’s really not relevant that the police station is so close to Pike-Pine and Cal Anderson…..that doesn’t make the area any safer. Stations are not staffed 24/7 with officers waiting to be called to a crime in progress…most, if not all, of them are out in their patrol cars, throughout the entire precinct and other areas of the city.
For everyone who goes to these community safety meetings, why don’t we all start advocating for a police sting operation to gather up some of these miscreants. Its a forgone conclusion these preditor groups are out here every night looking for opportunities, and anyone out looking vulnerable for long enough South of John and East of Boadway is almost inveitably going to get mugged. With the right looking dude or duette as bait I’ll bet they could pick up someone almost everynight. Tell me that wouldn’t put a big dent in the crime wave here…
i know alot of the people who hang out at the park, went to elementary and middle school with some of em then went our separate ways. But for the most part they’re good kids, misguided of course but really the extent of their nuisances are marijuana smoke and some typical alcohol induced behavior. The older people are the same faces ive been seeing for like 3+ years and they’re very respectful in my experiences, they’re shockingly grateful whenever i do have the change to give them and when i don’t they seem appreciative of just being acknowledged with a hello so i really doubt any locals are causing problems. One thing i have noticed while out and seen come up on the blog was that there were a lot of new yorkers or east coast people in the area and even commited some of the crimes. I think this isn’t really a good sign because from the amount of people in the open on 3rd and along broadway it seems winter is the open-air dealing/drug season and I’ve never really heard a NY accent up till recently (several people offering me “work” on the street have one). New york is a lot stiffer with those types of crimes so i’m thinking they want to move to a liberal city where they can take over much like how Chicago took over NY back in the 90’s. If this is whats happening stay safe and keep an eye out. (one way to get it traced back is reporting open air dealing– REAL DEALING ONLY, you have to see the hand-off, not them wearing certain clothes or standing around looking sketchy, loitering on sidewalks in seattle is legal and if you’re wrong the police’s time is wasted and you’ll feel like an ass for being classist to some guy down on his luck — trust me.. some poor guy was sitting outside my window at work and he kept handing little white things to all his buddies across the street and the guy was just giving people gum…)