A 13-year-old boy in Seattle, Washington, was arrested earlier in April 2024 when he not only stole a woman’s purse at a Seattle-area pharmacy but also viciously attacked her, punching her in the face when she confronted him over the attempted theft. The shocking incident was captured on the pharmacy’s security camera.
In the video of the April 6 incident, two teens can be seen approaching the woman near the entrance of the pharmacy. Then, one of them stole the purse out of her hands and ran off with it, flying from the store. The woman chased him, attempting to get her purse back as items from it fell out onto the sidewalk and were swiped by other, nearby youths as they tumbled out.
When she eventually caught up to the teen and confronted him over the theft, he put up his fists and threw punches, hitting her multiple times. He also grabbed her by the shirt and threw her to the ground, as she told the Seattle Police Department after the incident. She also informed the police that the incident was precipitated by the teens not paying for items and being confronted by a store employee as she commented on the situation.
Seattle police officers later located both the assault suspect and two other teens. In bodycam footage of the incident, the officers can be seen approaching the 13-year-old suspect, who demanded, “Am I being detained?” He was, in fact, detained: he was arrested and booked into the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center over the robbery allegations, though the two other teens were eventually released.
In any case, as the teen demanded to know if he was being detained, one of the officers informed him both that he was being detained and that he was being arrested for robbery. “Robbery? What the f—,” the teen exclaimed as officers arrested him. The teen also apparently attempted to run away as officers dealt with the other two.
Crime is such a problem in Seattle that even the city’s far-left mayor, Mayor Harrell, has taken notice of it. Harrell, in a mid-March comment on the crime issue and the city’s attempt to deal with it, said, “Public safety is not just our first charter responsibility as a City, it is the top issue for our community today. I look forward to meeting with neighbors to hear their concerns and ideas, and to share the actions we are taking.”
Continuing, Harrell said, “I am proud of our work to diversify public response options, address gun violence, and improve response times. But I know – we all know – that there is still more work to do. Community engagement, collaboration, and conversation is essential to our One Seattle vision for a safer city, because we can only make progress together.”
It remains to be seen if the city can manage to rid itself of such crime problems with initiatives of the type proposed by Mayor Harrell, bu the early-April robbery indicates that things aren’t exactly going swimmingly in the far-left city.
Watch the teen’s arrest here:
Featured image credit: Seattle Police Department
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