A 36-year-old man was arrested Thursday after he pulled a boxcutter on an employee at a Belltown restaurant, only to turn tail and flee after the staff member armed himself with a larger kitchen knife.
The man reportedly walked into the restaurant in the 2300 block of 2nd Avenue around 2 PM, sidled up to the bar and ordered a beer. The owner believed the man was intoxicated and refused to serve him alcohol, though he was provided with a glass of water.
A short time later, employees spotted the suspect in the restaurant’s downstairs kitchen, carrying an employee’s backpack. A staff member confronted the man, who pulled out a boxcutter and moved closer to the employee. The staff member armed himself with a kitchen knife and told the man to leave the restaurant.
The suspect put his blade away and employees pushed him out of the bar and called police.
Officers Howard Hoffmann and Matthew Clark found the man in a nearby bookstore and arrested him.
Police discovered he was carrying items reportedly stolen a day earlier in a burglary and booked him into the King County Jail.