Maybe I’m weird, but I often imagine the destructive possibilities of everyday items—smashing a shopping cart into department store perfume counters, for instance, or spray painting people instead of buildings. Thanks to Seattle’s unique crime culture, my spray paint fantasy has become a reality.
According to a Seattle police report, officers were called to a bar in the 1300 block of E Madison Street (likely Madison Pub or Chop Suey) in the predawn hours of Thanksgiving Day in response to a “report of a male that spray painted a customer in the face.” The suspect was taken into custody and police wondered, what possible scenario would lead one man to tag another man’s face on Thanksgiving Day?
Find out the answer after the jump!
Luckily for officers, there were a couple witnesses to the event. One of the witnesses reported that he saw the suspect and victim dancing and sparring verbally in the bar. This witness, along with another witness from the bar’s security staff, decided to boot the victim from the bar because, according to the report, he “seemed to be the more intoxicated of the two and seemed to be more of the problem.”
But, as the two witnesses were escorting the victim out, the suspect reportedly approached the victim and pushed him “three times knocking him to the ground.” The witness told police that the suspect then pulled “a spray paint can from his pocket and [sprayed the victim] in the face with white spray paint.” At that point, the suspect allegedly “fled on foot” where he was tackled and restrained by one of the witnesses.
The witness revealed that this might not have been the suspect’s only spray paint-related crime that night. Shortly before the face spraying incident, the witness noticed that the “men’s bathroom walls and stall doors were tagged with white spray paint with the initials ‘LR'”—ruling out Zorro, Kilroy, and Banksy—”which were still wet to the touch.”
After recording the witness’s statements, police then contacted the victim. He had paint on his face and couldn’t see. Horrors! Luckily SFD showed up and treated the guy. More surprising than the paint to the face, the victim “was too intoxicated to remember the incident.” Protip: if you’re going to get spray painted in the face and temporarily blinded, best go on a holiday bender first.
Two other witnesses testified that the verbal sparring between the victim and suspect had been mainly instigated by the victim. Just like football referees, though, the enforcers usually catch the second guy. The suspect was placed in custody and informed of his Miranda rights, but hearing them did not allegedly stop him from stating that “he spray painted [the victim] in the Face and spray painted ‘LR’ on the bathroom walls and stall doors.”
In vino veritas!
Who said “scab”? That joke is getting really old.
Scab.
Spraypaint boy needs to have his hands cut off.
This was actually a huge problem in my home town. Mind you it was teenagers instead of adults.
Hopefully the dude has insurane because those flecks of paint in his eyes can do serious long term damage.
Pre-dawn hours?
I live right around there and LR is a shitty tag that is sprayed everywhere around this area.
And this definitely sounds like Chop Suey. You don’t mess with the guys at Madison Pub.
LR = Libertarian Retard?
@8, I once passed out on a guy from the Madison Pub and I woke with shaved legs.
the “victim” was groping females (one turned around and slapped him in the face), “dance-shoving” people belligerently, and also straight up shoved another girl in the back of the head, all the while talking pointless shit to other patrons regarding gripes one would only muse if under too deep influence of drugs and alcohol. more than handful of people had already reacted to him in legit self-defense… his actions an obvious defense mechanism to being out of his more comfortable belltown/fraternity element. i’m surprised he didn’t get stabbed. but seattle’s passive like that.
He had paint on his face and couldn’t see. Horrors!
Horrors? Are you being sarcastic? Or merely unsympathetic.
Have you ever had spray paint in the eyes?
May you never have to experience that sort of pain. (Again?)
Any lawyers out there know if you are intoxicated and testify against yourself isn’t that testimony somewhat discredited? I mean, if you can’t understand your Miranda rights then it is similar to them being given to you in another language…
I’m often tasked with removing and painting over tags in that neighborhood. I also used to tag, when I was a young teen. Somehow, I still have respect for some taggers, even though I’m happy getting paid to clean it up.
The respect is pretty limited; most tags are ugly, and some are wrong. Please don’t tag the architectural moldings on 100+ year old buildings. Don’t tag brick or scratch glass. Don’t spraypaint in a bathroom. That’s just tacky. I long to catch someone in the act such as our villain in this story.
Good post, Luby.
Madison Pub does not have a Dance Floor, as described.
It was Chop Suey.
Or the Auto Body Shop.
the point of the story isn’t the shitty tags, how tired is the shitty seattle tag argument? … dude owned up to his tags and no one cares. “victim” basically got maced by someone who was angered and defending himself and others who had to deal with inane bullshit at an otherwise solid night. not the best decision, but that’s aggression for you. in all directions, we reap what we sow. if “victim” had violently shoved and/or attempted to dry hump me on the dancefloor i would have kicked the shit out of his balls. at least “suspect” was aware of and admitted to the other stupid shit he did, while victim can’t even remember he was there to begin with. stupidity has a cost.
Spray paint to the face? Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
#14 did you even read the comments??? It’s pretty obvious #11 was there and knows what happened! Sounds like the paint was used like a can of mace. Drunken frat boys should know better then to fuck with city kids. The victim is the villain!!! He groped women, started shit with people & shoved a woman in the back of the head. That’s some pussy ass douche shit! He deserved to get his ass beat and was lucky he just got sprayed with paint.
#4 is paint really more heinous than sexual harassment and drunken/drugged disruption? if spraypaint boy should get his hands cut off for punishment, doucher should get repeatedly ass-raped by strangers in his own temple.
@18
Spray paint is not a suitable substitute for pepper spray. Jesus Christ, man. Besides, you don’t just spray someone down (with anything that blinds people) because you’re mad at them for being a drunk asshole.
It sounds like you’re a staunch advocate of sidewalk-outside-the-bar drunken vigilantism, which is not good. And also of the overuse of punctuation, which I also don’t like.
Oh, and forgive me for not uncovering to read @11. I’m guessing that was you. Just register already.
@ People saying it was Chop Suey — I called there. The guy who answered the phone said he knew nothing about the incident. The phone at Madison Pub was busy and could have been off the hook.
@11 — It definitely sounded like he was at fault, which I tried to convey in the post.
@treacle — Neither sarcastic nor unsympathetic. The idea of spray paint in the eyes horrifies me.
@razorclammer — Enjoyed the advice on places you definitely shouldn’t tag. 100+ year old moldings? Yeah, don’t do that, guys.
Well that leaves the Madison or maybe the Pony
@1: I got it. To be fair, the second guy usually is more flagrant about it. Like when Roethlisberger talked trash to an opposing DL and got smacked in the gob.