On Saturday September 10, at 4:37 p.m., an alleged public purse snatching generated contained mayhem—including a pepper spray hose down—in the University District.
According to a police report, a couple was sitting on the raised deck alongside Cafe on the Ave when a man walking by allegedly grabbed the woman’s purse, which was resting “about a foot away from her” and took off running. The report states that the victim screamed while her boyfriend chased the suspect, who was headed south down University Way NE.
One block later, the report states that the boyfriend caught up with the suspect, who “immediately began fighting to retain the purse.” According to witnesses, “The fight between them was violent, and consisted of both men repeatedly striking the other in the face.”
Eventually, the boyfriend wrestled the suspect to the ground with another man’s assistance. But here’s where things get weird: After restraining the suspect, “an unknown woman pepper sprayed all three combatants not realizing a crime had occurred.” Even weirder: after waging chemical warfare on three strangers, the report notes that the woman “then left the scene before officers arrived.”
The Seattle Fire Department treated all three pepper spray victims before the police arrested the suspected purse snatcher on robbery charges.
According to the report, a search of the suspect conducted at the North Precinct revealed 15 bags of marijuana totaling 16.8 grams, as well as a signed medical marijuana prescription card. Officer Hanson, who wrote up the police report, did some (very basic) sleuthing: “Because I saw in a records check that he’d been arrested twice in the last 2 months for selling narcotics, and it was packaged for individual purchase, I decided to place the drugs into evidence, not safekeeping.”
Its a good thing the woman wasn’t carrying a handgun…
ouch – that’s over a half ounce out of the supply stream! what ever will we do now?
Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time a fight was broken up in the U-district by everyone getting pepper sprayed. Last time it was “an anonymous Asian guy”. Go figure. Hooray for stopping thieves though.
They should pepper spray the entire ave every evening after students leave, then disinfect.
Someone’s boyfriend BETTER have gotten a blowjob that night. Maybe even two!
These crazy pepper spray nuts, out there with no license, pepper spraying suspects and innocents alike. Time to ban all pepper spray!
@2: this is clearly not about going after pot dealers. This is about going after asshole purse snatchers in whatever manner available. I’m 100% behind legalization, but I also don’t really care if they use distribution laws to throw the book at people who are otherwise acting like dicks.
@7 – I’ve said before that the best such law would be a law against thumbs. That way, you can prosecute and hang anybody you don’t like without having to actually build a legit case against them. Heck, you don’t even have to plant pot on them, just prove that they have or had thumbs or intended to acquire thumbs.
The pepper-sprayer is a vigilante without a clue. I imagine her thinking: “Those guys are fighting and that’s bad.” I hope that some day soon she pepper sprays a plains-clothes cop.
I witnessed much of this. I saw the man run after the alleged purse snatcher down the Ave. When I arrived a large middle-aged man was holding the young man down on the sidewalk. I was concerned because he had him in a headlock and was making some violent motions. The woman who I believed pepper sprayed him was telling him that he can’t kill him. I went closer to the scene because I was worried that he was going to kill him.
The young guy had his mouth open and was saying that he could barely breath. The older man was very angry. He would tell him to shut up, almost slamming his forehead on the sidewalk. He was also telling the woman telling him not to kill the guy to shut up and “would somebody tell her to shut up.” At some point, he said, “Fucking Seattle.”
@10 that is hilarious, I would have loved to see this clusterfuck
@10 if I came upon that scene I might have pepper sprayed everyone too, especially if you don’t know who the good guy and bad guy is, or if there even is a good/bad guy. Yeah choke hold is dangerous and could be considered deadly force. Pepper spraying them all probably was a good way to get things under control. Keep the crook from running off and the other guy from choking him to death. How did they all react after they got sprayed? I have been sprayed for training when I used to work security, that shit blinds you and makes you cough a lot. I’d rather be tased than OC’d, at least the taser is overwith in a few seconds.
so what did we learn? don’t carry large amounts of drugs on your person if you’re going to commit a secondary crime. hilarious story.
@12 – If I’d come upon the scene, I probably would’ve pepper sprayed everyone, but only because, as the older gentleman put it, “fuckin’ Seattle!”
if i came across that scene i, too, would have pepper sprayed. then i would have taken the purse, because, hey, free purse.
When I read the article I pictured the woman thinking to herself “Finally, a chance to use this pepper spray I’ve been carrying around for months!” but if #10’s comment is true it’s even funnier! I imagine this is her dad or her boyfriend and she knows he has a temper, so she pepper sprays them both for the safety of all of them. thn they stumble around coughing and rolling around.
how priceless. I refuse to believe this wasn’t captured on someone’s iphone
Good for the woman.
Next time, she’ll keep her purse right next to her instead of a foot away.