Bike officers arrested a robber Wednesday in Westlake Park after he pilfered an eclectic collection of periodicals from a downtown book store.
The suspect walked into the Barnes & Noble at 6th and Pine around 5 PM, picked out copies of Newsweek, Playboy and Intelligent Life—magazines devoted to currents events, lagomorphology and culture—and ran for the store’s exit.
When employees confronted the man, he threateningly pulled an aluminum baseball bat out of his jacket, perched it on his shoulder and walked off down Pine Street.
Store employees called 911 reported the incident, and SPD bike patrol officers quickly spotted the suspect standing in Westlake Park.
Police approached the man—who still had baseball bat slung over his shoulder and a collection of magazines clasped in hand—and asked him why he hadn’t paid for the periodicals. The man answered he had “paid for them with his freedom.”
Officers took the suspect’s magazines and baseball bat, and booked him into the King County Jail for investigation of robbery.
Had the suspect simply visited one of the Seattle Public Library’s many locations around the city, he would have discovered several of his selections are available for perusal, at no cost.