A man allegedly trying to buy drugs was beaten and robbed this morning near Broadway and Roy, according to this report from the Seattle Police Department. The full report is below. As you can see, it’s a case of not very friendly customer service — the alleged robber and beater is also an alleged drug dealer.

UPDATE:
The man arrested is Wallace Robinson, Jr. The 24-year-old has faced drug charges in the past and been in and out of jail since 2006. He was booked on investigation of robbery and failure to appear for a previous court hearing on a drug possession charge.

The Seattle Police Department’s public information officers maintain a blog where these kinds of reports are posted. They typically use it to post updates on bigger cases. They typically are a little slow — it’s faster to call or e-mail — but they’re getting faster. Sometimes, stories like this robbery make it in the mix.

Drug deal gone bad

On 10/8/09, at approximately 2:18 a.m., after a drug deal went bad at E. Roy St. and Broadway Av E. the dealer (suspect) struck the buyer (victim) with his hand and feet then  robbed  the victim of his I.D. and cell phone.

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Officers were on routine patrol when they were flagged down by the intoxicated victim at the intersection of E. Roy St. / Broadway Ave E. The victim was bleeding heavily from the mouth when he reported the incident as an assault.   

Officers contacted the suspect at E. Mercer St. / Broadway Ave E. The suspect attempted to flee the area in a taxi.  The taxi driver was alarmed by the suspect’s behavior and flagged down officers arriving to the area.  After the victim was treated by Seattle Fire, he positively identified the suspect.  Search incident to arrest officers discovered the victim’s items on the suspect.

The victim was later transported to Harborview Medical Center for stitches.

The suspect, a 24-year-old male, was arrested and booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery.

What’s interesting to CHS is how the SPD chooses the cases it features. This robbery was deemed important enough to warrant the entry. This attack, to pick one obvious example, was not.

What’s also interesting is to watch our media counterparts process this kind of report. Here’s the write-up in the PI about robbery. Look familiar? You might notice that CHS has started to feature SPD reports in-full in its regular coverage — here’s a recent example. We don’t see a reason to re-write these — unless the report is really unclear — if we don’t have additional information to add. Don’t misunderstand — CHS will dig deep and keep digging when there’s a story that needs to be told. But when we’re only passing on the SPD’s side of the story, why not be honest about it?