A man was severely beaten and his wallet stolen in an early Sunday morning street robbery near East Harrison and 18th Avenue. According to police, the man walked into Group Health’s emergency room at 15th and Thomas early Sunday morning with injuries so severe he had to be transported to the trauma center at Harborview for treatment.
The man told police he was walking on East Harrison around 12:35 AM when he heard people running behind him. The victim said he assumed the runners were joggers but when he stepped aside to let them pass, he was struck from behind and shoved roughly to the sidewalk. The victim told police he was then struck and kicked upward of 30 times by at least two assailants. During the attack, his wallet was stolen.
The victim was unable to provide detailed descriptions of his attackers and police were unable to locate any suspects in their search of the area.
Muggings continue to be an issue on the Hill. Last Tuesday, a man said a group of seven males attacked him on Melrose near Harrison and stole his wallet. We’ll be taking a look at Capitol Hill’s crime trends in relation to the numbers in the rest of the city soon.
I have lived in Seattle for well over 20 years, much of it on Capitol Hill. I have never witnessed the amount of muggings, personal robberies nor the kind of armed & violent incidents, even in the 80s when I first moved to Capitol Hill. Not even in crack’s ‘heyday’. Certainly there was higher gang violence in short bursts in the CD at times, but even that is higher now than I think it has been since the early 80s, possibly ever . . . . We need a return to a real street patrol and the police need to stop focusing on harrassing the homeless and harmless, and be visibly patroling. Many many robberies are happening in that corridor along Harrison from 15th down the hill to Summit. Where are the cops when you need them? Can we start Q patrol back up?
so sick of this crap! the police do nothing and the violence escalates. it’s pretty much a daily occurence now
y’all are right, this IS bullshit! The cops need to put down the donuts and do their fucking JOBS! A competent Mayor continues to elude us, so it’s not likely we’ll have a competent police chief.
i guess it’s time to start packing heat.
Not against Q patrol — they were a cool part of the Hill when I first moved to Seattle. You definitely knew you were on Capitol Hill!
But the street robberies have always been a part of living in the city. One big change is there is a site (us!) covering Capitol Hill every day. In the old days, it either never got reported or took days or weeks.
I remember them well. Back when in the 90s they were a welcome site, when friends were getting bashed around the hill by roving haters. I do agree that muggings have been around for a long time, the neighborhood sites have just made us more aware of them. There seems to be an uptick however due to the economy, and why the thug violence? When I go out, I only have my ID and a debit card, I don’t even wear my watch, and I leave the wallet at home. Having been robbed before, you become a little wiser sadly.
Bad news,,,
I have also lived in Seattle for 20 years – all but one summer of it in Cap Hill/Squire Park. Sure, perhaps the speed of reporting is getting the word out quicker, but the internet and police beat reports have been around for years. Cap Hill feels less safe to me now than it has since I moved here.
I also was a part of Q Patrol for a few years. To be honest, these crimes are taking place on far more residential streets, not where Q Patrol spent most of their time. But whenever I see posts about “can’t Q Patrol come back?!?” I wonder who people think is going to do that, exactly. Q Patrol came about because an individual (or two individuals) started it. Anyone can start another patrol if they’ve got the drive and the energy to do it.
The cops are supposed to know where a beating is taking place before it happens?
look at the recent muggings in the neighborhood around 19th and Thomas/Madison.. is it a coincidence this is the area the 2 guys who robbed the market on 21st and Union fled to?
This is literally on my corner. There has been an increase of criminal activity in a few blocks radius of us lately – someone abandoned a stolen s.u.v. IN OUR CAR-PARK last week FFS.
There have been people caught prowling around, and a couple house break-ins as well.
My friend was attacked on Thomas and 17th about two years ago. It was late, he was walking home from the Safeway. His attackers were four young men (there were four witnesses) who hit him in the head with a 10lb rock, an injury requiring over 20 stitches. His Ipod was stolen, seemingly as an afterthought.
The intent of that attack and this one seems to go far beyond robbery. The cop who went to the ER with us believed the attack was related to a youth gang based around the Miller Park Center.
You need look at the actual crime stats before jumping to any conclusions about crime trends. You’ll likely find that Capitol Hill (and Seattle in general) is no less safer now than it was in the last 20 years.
I’ve been on the Hill and Squire Park for almost 20 years, and the only thing that’s changed is that in the past I was aware of only a small fraction of the crimes. With the advent of neighborhood blogs, I know of almost every single significant crime that happens.
When reading all the mayhem and violence in the news, it’s hard not to feel a sense of despair, but try to keep it in perspective.
I know there are conversations happening presently about bringing back Q-Patrol. There are several who feel it is necessary, including myself.
Stay turned, Something is and will happen about taking back our streets.
Sister Karma Za Betch
The Abbey of St. Joan
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Thanks, Sister!
Yes, there has been talk about bring back Q Patrol recently, and as someone commented earlier, all it takes is a few determined individuals to make it happen. If anyone can do it, the Sisters can! This would be a great extension of their outreach programs to the community. Definitely keep us up to date, Sister!
Thanks for posting the info on Sunday morning’s mugging. I was the victim of that attack, and wanted to add a request for any information about my Tag Heuer watch that was stolen from me in the attack. Of course I’d love to hear about any of the other things: cell phone, wallet, and keys were stolen too. But unlike the others the watch had sentimental value and is not replaceable. I know this is a long shot, but just in case, it was a silver/stainless tag heuer watch with a white face and was self-winding (no battery: you can see the inner workings through the clear quartz backing.
fingers crossed!
-Guillaume
Guillaume, so sorry this happened to you, I hope you are doing well.
Speaking from having property stolen in the past, I recommend typing up a description with pictures if possible and faxing your information (police incident # included) to every pawn shop in the state if you can. Pawn shops have to check the items they take in against a database and if they come up as stolen you will get it back (in theory of course). I didn’t have any luck retreiving my lost items this way but it can’t hurt to try.
Good luck!
My friend whose area is covered by the east precinct had her home broken into last year. Bunch of stuff was stolen, cops wrote up some report and went away. The thief had the gall to try a second break-in but my friend was home and actually saw the guy. He was a neigborhood kid that used to mow their lawn until they caught him lurking in their yard when they were out. She knows his name and, with a quick Google search, found which school he attends and even located his Myspace page. Cops said her eye witness was enough to nab him and insisted they didn’t need to dust for prints. And that was the last they heard of the cops. They had this one in the bag and nothing. I have no confidence in them.
With the economy tanking, of course crime is going to go up! If we add more police to the streets, it’ll be those same people whom requested them that complain about the hike in taxes to cover the extra coverage.
No one will be able to stop crime all together, nor know where it’ll happen and when – people need to realize we’re not living in a safety bubble.
BE SAFE AND CAUTIOUS WHILE WALKING AT NIGHT! Walk in groups, not alone, and always be aware of your surroundings. If you feel sketched out and are alone, call a cab. After all, you’re the only person whom can make sure you’re safe.
As far as I know the Q patrol never patrolled this neighborhood.
Guillaume,
I am very sorry this happened to you. Ironically, I had my Tag taken off my wrist two years ago in my robbery. I miss it to this day. Keep an eye on the pawn shops that are south around Rainier. This is where they found some of my stuff that was taken by me. If I may offer some advice, find someone to talk to about this. See a counselor if you have one available. You will get angry if you aren’t already. Find a healthy output for it.