On April 18th, at 11:24 pm, a cab driver was flagged down by three men in Skyway and asked if he would drive them to 36th Avenue South and South Oregon Street. One of the men stated he would pay the driver once they reached their destination. The driver agreed and drove the three to 36 Avenue South and South Oregon.
The cab arrived at the destination and the three men got out. The suspect told the driver to wait there, he would go get the $40 cab fare and return. The driver told the suspect he did not feel comfortable with that and suggested that he would walk with him while he got the money. As they began walking into the apartment complex, the suspect’s friends walked away in another direction, leaving just the suspect and the victim. The suspect pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head and turned toward the victim. The suspect told him to stop and wait where he was. The victim protested, stating that he wanted to go with the suspect to get the money. At that point the suspect reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded pocket knife. The suspect opened the knife so the victim could see the blade. According to the victim, the suspect stated, “Are you gonna wait here or not?”
The victim later told officers he was afraid that he might be harmed if he continued to follow him so he stopped. He called 911 on his cell phone. As he was speaking with the 911 operator, the suspect began running away eastbound through the parking lot and then behind a building.
Officers arrived quickly and located the victim driver. As they were speaking with him, officers saw a man matching the suspect description walking westbound on South Genesee Street across 37th Avenue South. Officers contacted the suspect in the 3600 Block of South Genesee and detained him. He was positively identified by the victim as the suspect who had robbed him. During the search incident to arrest, officers located the pocket knife in the suspect’s pocket. After his arrest, the suspect told officers that he was returning to 36th and South Oregon to pay the driver. Officers noted that the suspect had no money on his person at the time of his arrest. The 31 year old suspect was later booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery.