In a report made available late last week, SPD has detailed the severe beating a man suffered as he struggled to keep a street robber from taking his iPad at a 15th Ave E bus stop early on the Friday morning before the 4th of July holiday week.
According to the report on the June 29th incident, the victim told police he was standing at the 15th Ave E bus stop around 5:30a looking at his iPad when the suspect crossed the street and circled by the victim, grabbed the device and took off running on E Republican. The victim said he gave chase and caught up with the suspect a short distance away.
As the two struggled over the iPad, the victim lost his glasses and was hit “several times” but continued to hold on. The suspect eventually dropped the device and ran off but not before leaving the victim with serious injuries. According to the report, the victim was taken to Harborview for treatment for a cut forehead and eyebrow, a broken right eye orbit, a broken left lower jaw, and a broken right rib.
Police searched the area for the suspect but were not successful. Not description was included in the report. Police planned to review a video of the scene at the bus stop possibly captured by a nearby coffee shop’s security system.
Was the iPad worth that?
It’s not just the ipad, it’s also the principle, the right to own your things without fear of strangers taking then away from you simply for using them in public. Should we all cower in fear and allow people to take our belongings simply because they desire them? Yeah, the injuries weren’t worth the simple device itself, but this person gets to hold on to some of their pride.
There is a theme with all the gadget related reports lately: don’t flash your valuables. People report having their iPhones grabbed out of their hands. This guy had his iPad grabbed while he had it out at the bus stop.
Of course we should be able to carry and enjoy our electronics, but keep them tucked away out of view.
Don’t have your iPad out on the streets, also don’t walk around at night with earbuds in. Way do all of these attacks seem to involve people behaving like they live in Kirkland? Move to the eastside if you want walk around with expensive electronics out and visible. THis is so simple.
I really don’t think anyone deserves to get mugged, but you do have to use a little bit of common sense on when not to do some things. You don’t drag out your iPad at 5:30 in the morning when no one’s around nor do you you intently study your iPhone at 3rd and Pike/Pine either. You should know that doing stuff like concentrating on your iPad or iPhone at the wrong time and in the wrong place is asking for trouble. When you have your face buried in an iPad or your iPhone you are vulnerable to someone taking advantage of you. Be smart with your smartphone or iPad.
You really believe this tdjit doesn’t happen in Kirkland? I don’t think so. You have to be sensible about your surroundings. Concentrating on your iPad at 5:30 am isn’t the smartest thing in the world to do. Yes, we should be able to use our stuff, but reality is that there is an element that does not believe that so you need to be wise in what and where you do things.
I agree, keep that stuff put away when you are by yourself at night. sorry but this is just a fact of life of these days in any city. I hate it too, but you have to make smart choices to look out for yourself.
also, get some property insurance. if anyone wanted to steal my phone, purse, etc, I would hand it over gladly. I’m sorry, but no valuable is worth my life or me going to the ER (which would probably end up being more expensive than my stuff anyway).
Keep in mind that news and policy reports usually skip some details and often get others wrong. What if he took out his iPad for one second to look at a bus schedule? And even if not, there’s no reason to blame the victim. Yeah, don’t be stupid in the city, but don’t live under a blanket of fear either.
It sure sounds like you’re blaming the victim!
a baus.
It’s not blaming the victim to advise people to be pragmatic, practical, and cautious with their extremely stealable portable electronic devices. Most people walking and texting barely have any idea what’s going on around them–they’ll walk right into you before they notice you’re there. You have to weigh the convenience of being constantly wired in versus the risk of being a total sitting duck.
I agree it does seem sometimes to be blaming the victim– but another thing to think of: do you think it’s very likely that whatever he was doing on his iPad at 5:30 while waiting for a bus, was terribly important? I’ll bet not. Because anything of significant importance is something you probably wouldn’t be attempting while at a bus stop. I think we all need to unplug just a bit more.
Clearly this man was in the wrong. He was using an iPad, at a BUS STOP. What the hell was he thinking? He was practically INVITING someone to steal it, as 15th and Mercer is known for it’s violent underclass of criminals patrolling the streets at 5:30 in the morning.
This man was an idiot of the highest, and most unaware caliber. Everyone who is mugged is an idiot and should be more aware of their surroundings. They don’t call them the Mean Streets of Seattle for nothing.
Take me for example. I’m always hyper aware, alert, and have my head on a swivel, especially at 5:30 in the morning. At a bus stop. In one of the safer places in Seattle. I would never be the victim of random violence because I’m totally in control all the time.
But this guy, man, what an idiot.
I’m sure he didn’t think when he gave chase the his whole face would be shattered. I feel terrible for this victim. Having been the victim of violence more than once in the CD, random, stupid violence by my own neighbors, a stranger at the bus stop, etc. there comes a time when you just say “Hell, no, this isn’t happening again.” Clearly, the ipad at that hour, in that location, was a magnet, but the victim clearly also knows that at this point, and is suffering greatly for it. We don’t need to be douchey on top of it. Where is the outrage against BRUTAL robbers roaming our busses and bus stops? We’re all supposed to cower in fear these days of these roaming, rabid dogs.
That bus stop is in front of Caffe Ladro and across the street from QFC (both of which were open at 5:30 am)–not some obscure residential street. And 5:30 am on a work day is hardly the middle of the night (on the 29th, the sun rose shortly after 5:00). Everyone makes it sound like he was walking down a back street at 2:00 in the morning with his headphones on. Jeez!
I will blame the victim for not being smart. And I will blame him even more for chasing the person.
I agree, it’s clearly his fault he was robbed. It’s always your fault if you get robbed.
Unless it’s me, then its someone elses fault. Like the guy who robbed me. But not in this case. In this case it was clearly his fault.
Lots of scumbags out there. Too bad.
Here is a technique Occupy uses to discourage police violence:
If you feel a situation is getting sketchy, and you have a camera phone, take some pictures of the people that are making you nervous. If they confront you, tell them you just emailed their pic to a friend for insurance and will delete it later. Be sure to make clear you already uploaded the photos to the internet so they won’t be tempted to smash your phone or something.
This may make some people angry, so be careful how you act. But they should believe you photographed their face. Or even video’d. It is legal to photograph anything in public (like sidewalks, streets, and bus stops).
Well, when you put it that way, yeah– clearly there was nothing he did to contribute to the situation. Even if this guy’s iPad wasn’t out and in use, there’s SOME way a mugger would’ve just KNOWN he had one, and would’ve gotten it anyway. None of us should ever take into account whether it’s safe, or advisable in any way, to pull out all our electro-gadgets, cellphones, expensive watches, or wads of cash, while on the street, and there’s no reason we should pay attention to anything around us at the expense of whatever we’re focused on. We should all operate under the perfectly reasonable assumption that our streets are, and always have been, perfectly safe. This would’ve happened anyway, regardless of what the victim was doing.
I took a cell phone photo of an occupier stealing wine from a local shop and selling drugs in front of a kindergarten and uploaded it to the internet.
Also, This seems less effective than waving a lace-edged pillow in at suspicious persons. I did that once and totally avoided having my purse stolen.
Just saying.
Agreed!
I’m always paranoid when I’m using my phone at bus stops, because I’ve heard so many stories about it getting stolen. The thing is, I need to use it to check the bus schedule, see if my bus is running late and I could possibly catch another one and check my work email in case I need to respond to something quickly. I also use it to read the news as I’m waiting. I usually try to keep my Kindle Fire hidden until I’m on the bus, when I fire it up to read.
This person is a victim. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. I live a couple blocks from where this happened and I consider this part of the hill pretty safe. Makes me more nervous than I was before…
My oppologies to any confused readers of my post!
If one has a picture of someone *before* they attack you, and you make it clear that you will use this photographic evidence to prosecute them to the fullest extend of the law, the potential attacker will weigh the cost/bennefit of attacking you vs. being tracked down latter.
de·ter
verb (used with object), de·terred, de·ter·ring.
1. to discourage or restrain from acting or proceeding: The large dog deterred trespassers.
yeah, comparing that stop on 15th to the one on 3rd & Pike is just laughable.
it sucks, but thefts of personal electronics have skyrocketed. I try to never even take my phone out of my bag when I’m out walking around – but you know what? Occasionally I do. Sometimes it seems like no big deal. Or I’m in a reasonably safe area (which, really? is all of Capitol Hill, compared to plenty of other cities). Or it’s a place that I’ve used my phone a bunch of times with no problems. I think of myself as a highly-aware-of-my-surroundings person, but I can’t go through life as if I’m under attack 100% of the time, so it’s totally possible that someday my phone will get swiped. I just hope I know to let it go, and to not read any thread about it on CHS, where a momentary lapse in judgment (or just plain minding my own business) will suddenly make me a poster child for What It Wrong With People, Anyway?
I hope the guy makes a speedy recovery.
Saying that some of what he did facilitated the mugging doesn’t mean he was ‘wrong’ or at fault for it– Just that it might have been avoided, or at least not made him an easy(er) target. I don’t think anyone’s suggesting he did anything ‘wrong’.
When the good finally gives up to the evil we are all screwed. Thanks for fighting back the evil, sorry for the injuries, I hope you heal quickly.
And I will blame you UpD for being a judgey mc judgerson.
Who is UpD?
If you can’t blame the victim you can’t shoot the messenger.
By police violence do you mean when the police are trying to stop an Occupy person from breaking the law and they are resisting arrest? I just don’t want to be confused by you.
i agree. fighting back is a good thing but risky at the same time. if people who can fight back, fight back, less people will think this is a good neighborhood to target people. good for this guy. i hope he heals up quick.
Sure, happy to clarify! Occupy always has a permit, so we don’t have to worry about police being violent with us for *illegal* activities.
Our permit is the Constitution.
I thought you would have at least referenced a legal permit in the City of Seattle.
I work for UW, and because of this, I receive the “Notification of Criminal Incident” emails from the UW police department regularly. People are having their electronics forcefully taken from them on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Fortunately, they don’t typically end with severe injuries such as the case here (most don’t pursue, obviously), but people are getting roughed up very regularly. I think it’s rather sad that bone-headed thugs take stuff from innocent people with total impunity here. Sometimes they’re quite brazen. I do wish there was a heavier police presence in the U-District.
@pissed off – I’m pretty sure that was a joke. Look at his user name.
I have to think that your comments are satirical. Otherwise, they are plainly ridiculous.
I agree with JimS. The trendy behavior of everyone being plugged in while out in public has some serious downsides, not the least of which is an epidemic of thefts/muggings for the various devices. Call me a neo-Luddite, but in my opinion the world would be alot better off without these things.
By the way, if the only way to stay safe on the streets is to hide your little machines away, why carry them in the first place?
Let’s use some urban common sense. Start to pay attention
This individual made themselves vulnerable in public in an urban area at 5.30am. Maybe he wasn’t “asking for it” but they would be smarter to open their eyes more
Maybe you should have looked up “oppologies” instead?
Sad to see this happening in my hood, a couple words of advice.
If some scumbag grabs your stuff, don’t grab it back, instead kick their ass. What does this mean? Let them tie up a limb holding your iPad and kick the snot out of them. Getting into a grab match leaves you open. Best to use your 2 unencumbered fists to rain holy hell. Pull hair, scratch eyes, etc. if you are going to fight, make it worth it. Unleash the inner holy hell, don’t just try and gab back, that will just get you punched in he face. If they drop the iPad? AppleCare+!
Kudos to the victim, fighting back is the hard, but right choice. Roll over and it will happen more and more.
Who will invariably be from a low-to-moderate-income background, at which point everyone can stop blaming the criminal and feel guilty.
“Lifeguard”…..your comment is another example of how arrogant Occupiers/anarchists are. You actually think our Constitution allows you to do anything your immature impulses tell you to do? Even if your actions are blatantly illegal?
Sorry to inform you, but your clinging to the Constitution to justify any action reminds me very much of the “Tea Baggers,” who also are extremely arrogant in interpreting the Constitution for their warped views.
What if the perpetrator has a knife or a gun? Your attempts to kick their ass to get your ipad back could end up getting you stabbed or shot.