Seattle police officers arrested a 24-year-old man yesterday after nearly burning a woman with a torch lighter.
On April 7 at about 8:50 p.m., patrol officers responded to reports of a man threatening to burn a 60-year-old woman inside of Evan’s House in the 400 block of 10th Avenue. There, police met with a witness and the victim, who was unharmed. The victim, who is deaf, communicated with police via writing and hand gestures.
Police determined that the victim held the elevator door open to prevent it from closing. The suspect, after becoming impatient with her doing this, took a torch lighter out of his pocket, put it up to the victim’s face, and ignited it.
According to the police report, the victim “motioned with her hands how close the blowtorch was to her eye which resembled about two inches.”
While speaking to officers, the victim managed to point out the suspect to officers. Police arrested the suspect without incident and recovered two torch lighters as evidence.
Officers booked the suspect, a convicted felon, into the King County Jail for felony assault.
Detectives in the Homicide & Assault Unit referred this case to the City Attorney’s Office.
Incident Number: 2026-95207
