A 16-year-old male, suspected of a strong arm robbery last week, was arrested last night after he was spotted boarding a Metro bus downtown.
On December 10th, at about 12:30 am, a 25-year-old woman got off a Metro bus at 15th Avenue NW and NW 85th Street. She noticed a young man also get off the bus at the same time and begin to follow her. The male confronted her and asked her “What’s up?” The victim told the suspect to leave her alone and continued walking. The suspect kept following her, demanding her backpack, phone and money. The victim tried to ignore him, and the suspect hit the woman in the face and stomach before pulling the backpack from her shoulder. He then fled. A number of North Precinct officers responded to the scene, but the suspect was not located.
Detectives were assigned the case and reviewed bus surveillance video and determined that the suspect had boarded the bus downtown. A bulletin with photographs of the suspect was distributed to Seattle and King County Metro officers.
Last night, at around 9:30 pm, officers observed a male resembling the suspect description get on a Metro bus in the 1500 Block of 3rd Avenue. The suspect rode the bus and got off at 15th Avenue NW and NW 85th Street, where the officers stopped and detained him. Seattle Police officers were contacted and responded. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to the Robbery Office, where he was interviewed by detectives.
The suspect admitted to the robbery on the 10th and implicated himself in several other street robberies. Detectives will continue to follow up on these crimes. The 16-year-old suspect was later booked into the Youth Services Center for Investigation of Robbery.