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Police: Suspect high on meth in attack of 72-year-old woman on Capitol Hill

The man arrested in the Saturday, May 7th attack on a 72-year-old woman told police he was “out of his mind” on methamphetamine.

According to Seattle Police documents, the suspect admitted to entering the victim’s 17th Ave and E Denny Way apartment to rob her for money to buy drugs. He said he targeted her because he thought she would be easy to rob. Police say he also admitted to “imagining” having sex with the victim as he attempted to pull down her pants during the attack.

Willie Sorrell, 46, was arrested on Friday for burglary, assault, attempted robbery and attempted rape. A King County judge found probable cause to hold Sorrell until his bond hearing, set for Monday afternoon. Sorrell has not been charged with the crime.

Sorrell was arrested six days after the attack when police tied him to the victim’s apartment by taking fingerprints collected at the scene and checking them against a national database. Sorrell, who had a warrant for his arrest in a separate assault case, has a lengthy criminal history that includes multiple arrests for theft, burglary, and one previous assault.

Police arrested Sorrell at 16th and E Olive’s Sound Mental Health clinic, where he regularly visits a case manager.

The victim, who did not know Sorrell, told police she had just entered her residence after shopping when she saw a man standing at her door exposing himself. She told police the suspect knocked her to the ground, attempted to sexually assault her, and struck her several times. The victim said the man left after she elbowed him in the face. The woman was transported to Harborview Medical Center with serious injuries.

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14 Comments
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Preppy6917
Preppy6917
7 years ago

While I do hope he receives the help he needs, I also hope he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I say this as a recovering addict myself.

RealityBites
RealityBites
7 years ago

Please explain again why we should have “safe injection sites” to allow someone like this to get away with taking illegal drugs so they don’t kill themselves from an OD but then wander out to go rape a 72 year-old woman? I’m liberal but we have to get a backbone to replace our blind bleeding hearts and get these people in an institution of some sort to cure them of their need to escape their personal responsibilities by taking drugs.

Whichever
Whichever
7 years ago
Reply to  RealityBites

I was wondering the same thing. Sanctioned drug use… surely there has to be a better solution than enabling that kind of behavior.

jc
jc
7 years ago
Reply to  RealityBites

We’ve been locking them up for the last 40 years, and it hasn’t done very much, has it? Treatment of any kind will only work when they’re willing and able.

RWK
RWK
7 years ago
Reply to  RealityBites

We don’t lock people up very often simply for using illegal drugs….we lock them up for crimes they inevitably commit to get the cash to pay for their drugs. This case is an especially egregious example, and the guy should be prosecuted aggressively, especially with his prior convictions.

jc
jc
7 years ago
Reply to  RealityBites

Half the federal prison population are in the pen for drug offenses, from low-level users and dealers to drug traffickers. Sorrell is a violent criminal, and needs to be taken off the streets. But locking up people for using does more to ruin lives than any drug will. And it’s counter-productive: We’ve wasted over a trillion dollars in this debacle, and more people are using than ever before! We have to manage this as a public health issue, not treat all of them as criminals like this guy.

Truth
Truth
7 years ago
Reply to  RealityBites

A lot of addicts don’t know how to start getting treatment or are too scared that by getting treatment, they will be arrested or exposed. A safe injection site takes care of both of those problems.

Will everyone that goes to a safe injection site get treatment? No, but existing sites have shown a significant uptick in people seeking treatment and a significant downtick in drug related incidents such as this.

Either way, as people have posted already, our current system of all out war on drugs clearly isn’t working and is instead creating criminals who now have no hope of re-entering society as a functioning human being. The cost to society for the current system is astronomical, but nobody balks at it; instead they focus on Sound Transit spending money on the grand opening of a transportation system that is going to revolutionize our city.

Mike
Mike
7 years ago

breaking bad is soooo cool

bb
bb
7 years ago

I got to see someone OD in the grocery store tonight. People hardly paid any attention as paramedics did their work and carried him out the door. It’s the new normal around here.

jseattle
Admin
7 years ago
Reply to  bb

When and where? I’ll look into it

bb
bb
7 years ago
Reply to  bb

Madison Market. 7pmish.

Joseph
Joseph
7 years ago

It would be enlightening to learn where this guy is from. Our powers that be want us to believe most street addicts are local.

AR
AR
7 years ago

So he has a history of assault, drug use, and has a case worker paid by the state I assume. Who is paying for this 72 year old womans healthcare after this assault? She needed to been seen at the ER and I would hope there are some agencies that can help her through this trauma. I just keep thinking of older people and how this society sees them as throwaways, but we pander to drug addicts and criminals. Is he getting the help he needs? Screw that, is SHE getting the help she needs should be the question!

J.L.
J.L.
7 years ago

safe injection sites are meant for heroin use, primarily, opiate addicts don’t get violent they fall asleep. It’s to stop the spread of disease.