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Last of the Capitol Hill phone muggings? Man charged for Broadway robbery as ‘kill switch’ tech reportedly making dent in London, SF, NYC

We’ve gotten used to street robberies around Broadway and Pine but there was something notable about this early morning Saturday, January 10th phone mugging near the intersection: somebody got caught. It might be even more noteworthy in coming months. Reuters is reporting that phone theft stats in three major cities — London, New York, and San Francisco — have plummeted with the rise of anti-theft “kill switches.”

From the report:

The number of stolen iPhones dropped by 40 percent in San Francisco and 25 percent in New York in the 12 months after Apple Inc added a kill switch to its devices in September 2013. In London, smartphone theft dropped by half, according to an announcement by officials in the three cities.

That didn’t matter, police say, to 28-year-old Subeyr Qasim. The Central District resident is charged with second degree robbery in the January 10th, 3 AM attack in which the victim says he was hit in the face multiple times until he lost consciousness on the street near Broadway and Pine. “Just take my phone. I don’t have anything else,” the victim pleaded, according to a witness.

Police say Qasim grabbed the victim’s $500 phone and tried to walk away and blend into the scene around Neighbours. The victim and witnesses identified Qasim as the suspect to police and he was taken into custody though the phone was not recovered. He is also being charged for allegedly dealing crack cocaine in Belltown after a May, 2014 arrest.

Qasim is currently out of jail on a conditional release.

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Rance
Rance
9 years ago

Thanks to San Francisco and New York that called out the trend and pushed for manadtory kill switches in their states. California’s mandate hasn’t started yet but manufacuters have already started adding the technology in order to sell their phones in that state. I think SPD finally realized it was a problem and hired one person to work on cell phone thefts only a couple months ago

Joseph Singer
Joseph Singer
9 years ago

And just why is Qasim out on any kind of release?

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
9 years ago
Reply to  Joseph Singer

Yeah, what’s a “conditional release”? That he promises, “pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top”, that he won’t do it again? Please. Lock the motherfucker up. And it he’s on a green card, export him.

RWK
RWK
9 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

I agree. How many times do we have to hear about hardened criminals committing more crimes on release before we get tougher on these perps and keep them in jail until trial? And someone like Qasim is surely a flight risk from the criminal justice system.

DB McWeeberton
DB McWeeberton
9 years ago
Reply to  Joseph Singer

Agreed–it’s not so much about the phone theft as having someone out and about who’s hitting people in the face so aggressively that they lose consciousness–this person gets to walk around the streets again, right away?

Give me a break
Give me a break
9 years ago

So is this 28 year old one of the “misdirected youth” the Somali community leaders were not apologizing for in their letter this summer?

David Holmes
David Holmes
9 years ago

WTF! You can brutally attack someone, steal their phone, and be set free? What the hell is “conditional release”? Well, that’s definitely one of the craziest and maddening things I’ve read in awhile.

Really, who cares if they caught the guy considering he’s out and about again. I can’t imagine he’ll ever show up for any of the legal proceedings.

philbov84
philbov84
9 years ago

And he has a arrest record….

iknowsnow
iknowsnow
9 years ago

I got news for you folks, most people who are in the pre-trial phase (this is arrested but haven’t had their trial yet) are out and about walking around – whether on bail or otherwise. Our jails and prisons in the U.S. are already stretched to capacity and generally, unless the arrestee has a rap sheet indicated multiple past violent crimes or a propensity for flight, they are going to be released in some fashion or another.

According to the article, it sounds like his prior record only involves some petty drug dealing – without involving any violence.

This is the world folks – either you knew this already and conveniently forgot – or you’ve been way too sheltered in your lives to date.

seattlecarol
seattlecarol
9 years ago
Reply to  iknowsnow

Conditional release most likely means he has an ankle bracelet. King county jail has plenty of open beds. http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/investigations/2015/02/09/county-jail-empty-beds-king-snohomish-pierce-thurston/23148057/

Our justice system is really screwed up.

RWK
RWK
9 years ago
Reply to  seattlecarol

Mmm, the above 2 comments seem to contradict one another. Are the jails full, or not? If not, judges need to be stricter on who they release.

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[…] a January Broadway/Pine beating and phone robbery and rhetorically asked whether it might be the “last of the Capitol Hill phone muggings” thanks to the reported success of mobile phone “kill switch” technology. Clearly it […]