[mappress mapid=”27″]CHS has learned of a vicious attack near Cal Anderson Park in mid-March in which a victim beaten so badly he nearly lost an eye managed to stagger two blocks to the East Precinct to escape his attackers and report the assault to police.
The previously unreported attack occurred late on the night of March 15th as the man said he was jumped by four males near 10th Ave and E Pine on the edge of the park.
Police details on the incident are limited as the victim was beaten so badly he had difficulty describing his attackers. He could tell police only that four black males hit him numerous times in the head and face as fell to the ground. They were last seen running west on E Pine.
Seattle Fire says an alert paramedic who responded to the East Precinct for initial treatment of the man recognized that there was severe injury to the victim’s eye. He was rushed to Harborview. A friend of the victim tells CHS that his eye was saved.
“He almost lost his right eye, had to have a CAT scans and eye surgery. The lower shelf of his eyesocket was broken and needs to be fixed with a plastic implant,” the friend told CHS.
The 35-year-old victim is recovering.
We’re checking with police to find out if there are any updates on the case. UPDATE: A SPD spokesperson is checking with the detective on the case to find out if there is any more information that can be shared at this time.
UPDATE x2: The investigation of this case has apparently been closed. “The victim was interviewed by a detective and he can’t identify any of his attackers so the case was deactivated,” a SPD spokesperson tells CHS.
My heart goes out to the victim. Sounds like he has a long road to recovery ahead.
Thanks for keeping the community updated.
Urban thugs strike again. This is happening WAY too often. Please don’t tell me that “crime is down.”…..I doubt the victim of this horrendous attack would want to hear that.
Oh calhoun, you’re so dramatic and irrational.
So you would not say they are thugs? The attack was vicious and the victim almost lost an eye.
your whole “dont tell me crime is down” and “wont somebody think of how the victim feels” are both the most kneejerk emotional reactions one could possibly have.
And yet, they are both valid points.
Agree with JimS. The moment we become inured to this type of violent attack is the moment we cease to be a community of caring neighbors.
I hope the guy is OK. A crushed orbit is a horrible injury. :-/
I recall reading this year that the FBI stats show crime has been going up rather than what had been reported before.
Really mid-March and you are just now reporting it. The previously unreported attack occurred late on the night of March although he walked to a police station who did not file a report since it was unreported. “Really” so this article is telling everyone that the police did not fill out a report or if they did it got lost on someones desk which is unlikely since we are in the computer age. This story has much left out.
To clarify, unreported by CHS or other media — SPD released the report last week I believe but their system to access reports was down so we didn’t find until this week. Make sense?
Cal Anderson is becoming bad enough during the day. I would avoid the place all together at night. This event may have occurred outside of the park, but the area is once again being taken over by ne’er do wells.
I’m surprised they don’t patrol that place more often. Especially at night. They could even be in plain clothes maybe.
I’m surprised there aren’t more patrols at Cal Anderson as well, most especially considering the fact that a portion of it is directly across the street from the East Precinct.
Show’s you what a “deterrent” the police are to crime. The 12th Ave Precinct is less the two blocks away. Way to go SPD.
Geez, the police can’t be everywhere all the time.
Oops! Posted prior to reading yours. You would think that the police would at least make an effort to notice crime when entering their vehicles, both personal and police cruisers. They know that is a troublesome area and it certainly doesn’t look good to have crime take place directly across the street from their front door.
Was this an unprovoked attack? Or some kind of drug deal gone bad? I’d like to know if we have roving gangs of murderous thugs randomly attacking passerby in the neighborhood.
Have you not been reading Caphillseattle for the last year(s)? It’s pretty clear and cut and dry that we have rmany criminals and thugs causing a lot of trouble ALL over the hill at all hours, from random attacks to robbery.
I’ve been reading CHS since I moved here 4 years ago, and generally attacks happen around an incident. A mugging, a drug deal, etc. Vicious beatings for no reason aren’t terribly common. That’s why I was asking if there was more info, and that this wasn’t just truly random. Truly random attacks are rare.
Several people have been “randomly attacked” while waiting at bus stops, standing outside having a smoke, walking home from the bar, etc. There is an element of viciousness and hatred in many of these attacks that tells me that robbery isn’t the sole intention in these incidents, but also to cause bodily harm or worse.
It’s tragic, that a lone individual is beaten to that degree , by four cowards, “acting out” (if you don’t like the word “thug”).
If you haven’t suffered severe injuries, the surgeries, the pain, disruption of your earning capacity and a lengthy hospital stay and huge expense, overall, consider yourself lucky.
Those of us who have been attacked, and have known others over the decades that have, appreciate the outrage.
Perhaps, for those who can stay up late, might resurrect a volunteer group like Q Patrol in the 80’s that was out late on weekends, making themselves visible around “problem” areas like Pike/Pine, on the weekends.
People have been saying we need the Q patrol back for years, but it never seems to gain any traction. The Sisters from the Abbey of St Joan can act a bit like neighborhood patrol, breaking up fights and just generally being a watchful presence, but I don’t think they have the manpower necessary to make a proper patrol. It doesn’t help that the boundaries of the nightlife territory on the hill keep expanding.
Why is no one treating these as racially motivated hate crimes? Name one time 5 white males savagely attack a black man walking down the street minding his own business and it was not called a racially motivated hate crime. Yet there have been an epidemic of these black on white and black on Asian mob attacks. Yo media- why doesn’t the Seattle media just tell us how many of these attacks have there been and what is the racial make up of the perps and victims? It’s a legit and very relevent question.
I believe most of the time the motivation is theft and relative anonymity. Capitol Hill is a somewhat affluent area that sits next to and used to include a much lower income population, the temptation may be strong, that and gangs. Rage may manifest somewhere along the way during the act.
Yes, Andrew, you are right…it is a relevant and legitimate question. But most people in Seattle, and even more so on Capitol Hill, are too politically correct to acknowledge or talk about this issue, which is clearly the “elephant in the room.” Every time the racial reality is brought up, by someone such as you, they are immediately dismissed as being a racist…surprised this hasn’t happened yet for your post.
How do you know the victim was white?
How do we know the victim was white? An attacker/s can be arrested if there is other evidence or clues beyond victim identifying attacker. Stolen objects, others hearing bragging, something that was said during the attack that identifies motive. A victim’s identification can be wrong unless the person has some previous knowledge of the attacker/s. If the incident begins with a different type of interaction it can help improve the accuracy of the id. A very visible identifying mark can help. The case can’t be closed just due the lack of an identification by the victim. There must be a lack of evidence, or victim cooperation or memory of the incident.
[…] recent incidents also have raised concerns including this brutal March beating that nearly cost a man his eye or the murky details around this February assault reportedly […]