Please help Seattle Police find the man who ambused and beat me unconscious on MLK last night around 8 PM (self.Seattle)
Seattle
829 ups - 0 downs = 829 votes
Can you guys please help police find the man who ambushed and beat me unconscious on MLK Jr near Beacon Hill last night around 8 PM?
I was driving on MLK Jr to grab a quick dinner. I signalled and switched to the left lane, apparently not seeing the car that was in my blind spot. It wasn't that close, but I still cut him off. He honked his horn and swung around me on the right, got in front of me, then slammed on his bakes. I had to veer to the left to keep from hitting him. He matched my maneuvers, at one point in a diagonal jack-knife formation across the center line. At that point, I veered further left onto the light rail tracks in order to avoid hitting him.
Unfortunately, the light turned red at that time and there were cars ahead in both lanes, leaving me nowhere to go. The other driver pulled-up in the right lane right beside me (leaving significant space between him and the next car ahead of him) and shouted something at me (I couldn't tell what it was).
The last thing I remember is seeing a pair of clenched fists approaching from behind in the driver's side mirror. I remember thinking, "Ok, so this guy wants to yell at me. I'll apologize for the error, maybe offer to buy him a drink or something, and settle it like mature adults." Even after all this, I did genuinely feel bad about cutting him off like that.
The next thing I can remember is driving down MLK, covered in blood, with no idea where I was, how I got there, or where I was going. I pulled over, disoriented, trying to figure out if this was real or a dream. I flagged down a good samaritan who called 911. At first, I didn't even know what year it is or who the president is, though I did know my name and birthday. The rest gradually came back to me, except for the attack itself, which remains a complete blank.
According to one of the officers, there was at least one witness who saw the man approach my car on the left, sucker-punch me in the side of the head from behind through the driver's side window, continue beating me in the head until I was unconscious, then run back to his vehicle and drive away. Perhaps it's better that I don't remember....
Anyway, it looks like I didn't suffer any permanent brain injuries, though they want to do another round of scans in about a week to be sure. I take warfarin (a blood thinner) for my artificial heart valve so there's some concern that bleeding or other issues could develop. I just got back from the hospital about an hour ago.
I did suffer some serious injuries to my face. My upper and lower lip were bust open in multiple places. My left eye (which is my good eye; i.e. the one not partially blinded by a stroke I suffered in 2005) is nearly swollen shut with a scratched cornea. The whole left side of my face is swollen and doctors warned me that it will get a lot worse before it gets better. I can also expect extremely severe bruising to develop, again because I'm on blood thinners. One of my teeth was chipped and the inside of my mouth was bleeding profusely. My chin was split open and required stitches. I'll now have to take antibiotics as a precaution due to the bleeding. I'm also in extreme pain right now but hopefully that will be better tomorrow after I fill the painkiller prescription they gave me.
As for me, I'm a local software engineer at a company called zulily who's lived in western Washington his whole life. I don't drink or do drugs. I don't smoke. I don't get into fights with people. I'm actually something of a pacifist when it comes to violence. I just leased a new house on Beacon Hill and currently live there alone with my cat. I'm no saint, by any means, but I don't believe I deserved to have this happen to me, either.
My wounds will ultimately heal and I'll be fine. I've dealt with painful medical recoveries before. What concerns me is what happens to the next person who finds him/herself in the crosshairs of this psychopath. People like this tend to escalate their violent behavior, which means his next victim could very well wind up dead on the side of the road somewhere if we don't catch him and get him off the streets now.
So please, if you have ANY information that may be pertinent to this case, call Seattle Police immediately!
Here is a rather grim-looking selfie I took after I got home from the hospital. It's a bit graphic so you might want to avoid looking at it if that sort of thing makes you squeamish:
EDIT 1: For those of you suggesting that I made-up this post in order to get karma, hopefully this will put an end to that rumor:
http://q13fox.com/2014/10/05/seattle-police-search-for-road-rage-suspect/
EDIT 2: To those of you who are now saying that I must have been the aggressor or done something more to provoke him, I hope for your sake that you never find yourselves fall victim to an attack like this, only to then be victimized again by a group of people essentially saying, "He either made it up or had it coming."
Well, I didn't and I didn't. The police report and photos of my injuries should be enough to confirm that I was assaulted that night as I said.
As for what led up to the assault, I can't prove the sequence to you without video. I don't have a dash cam, though there are red light cameras in the area and maybe it's possible one of them caught it. So you might want to at least hold off on the Balloon Boy accusations until the evidence has all been collected and disclosed.
EDIT 3: Ugh, ok. Some of you are still insisting that what I described doesn't make any sense, so I'll do my best to describe it better as an ordered sequence:
I decided to grab a quick dinner at McDonald's, which is a very short drive.
I drove away from my new house on Beacon Hill via Dawson.
I turned right onto MLK Jr. Blvd.
I activated my left turn signal.
I moved into the left lane.
I heard a car horn from behind me and realized that I cut someone off.
Some seconds later, he moved into the right lane and sped up to pass me.
He moved back into the left lane, in front of me, and slammed on his breaks.
I slammed on my breaks but knew that coming to a complete stop would be dangerous.
I swerved to the left to avoid rear-ending him. I can't remember if it was a shoulder or turn lane or what. He was still ahead of me when I did that.
Before I could pass him, he sped up and turned more sharply toward the left at a diagonal angle, using the front driver's side of his car to block my path.
I swerved left even more, this time hitting the light rail tracks that divide the north/south directions of MLK.
I passed him and moved back into the left lane.
I increased my speed in hopes of escaping this lunatic.
The light ahead turned red. There were cars ahead, stopped at the light, in both lanes. I can't remember for sure, but I think my lane had 3-4 cars and the right lane had 1-2 cars.
I came to a full stop, unable to locate an alternate route on a still largely unfamiliar road in a split second.
He pulled-up alongside me in the right lane and stopped, leaving at least a couple open car lengths between the front of his car and the back of the car head of him in line.
I heard a shout or scream coming from the car. It almost sounded like a female voice, but I'm not sure. I couldn't tell what the person said, only that it sounded angry.
I glanced over at the driver's side mirror and saw the torso of a man with fists clenched. I wish I could remember a better description, but I can't.
I have no memory of the attack itself. At least one witness told police, as I understand it, that the suspect approached my window from the rear.
According to the witness, the man reached in and sucker-punched me in on the left side of my head from behind. He then pummeled me in the same spot for an unknown duration.
The witness said the man then ran back to his car and drove off. It wouldn't surprise me if his intent were to leave me for dead, though that's just idle speculation.
The next thing I remember is driving my car down MLK. I suddenly realized I had no idea where I was going. Then I realized I couldn't remember where I came from, where I live, what year it is, who the president is, etc. I was able to remember my name, though.
I pulled into an empty lot and wandered out of the car, realizing that the front of my shirt was covered in blood.
I flagged down a good samaritan, who called 911.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm no saint by any stretch of the word. But nobody deserves to have this happen to them.
Those of you who believe the above events don't make any sense might want to read-up on other road rage incidents that have occurred over the years. You can also contact SPD and ask them to explain it to you. Random, unprovoked attacks like this are hardly uncommon. Your assumption that I must have somehow given him a good reason to beat me unconscious is based on the faulty premise that all people who who engage in violent road rage attacks are rational and measured in their temperment.
I hate to break it to you cynics out there, but this was just a case of a very unstable person viciously assaulting another over a minor traffic mistake. I'm not going to try to persuade you any further. Either you believe me or you don't.
And to the alleged former neighbor who says basically that I had this coming for some reason, send me a message or start a new post thread and air whatever grievances you have there. If you're such a dick that you'd attack the victim of a brutal assault on a thread where he's asking people to call police for information in order to air your dirty laundry, then I'd say it's a pretty safe bet we wouldn't get along too well. So if we actually were neighbors and this is the kind of behavior you showed back then, I wouldn't have hesitated to tell you what I think of that.
The rest of you, please just ignore these trolls. The alleged neighbor guy appears to be vote-brigading and you'll probably get hit with negative karma if you respond to any of his comments.
376 comments submitted at 12:19:57 on Oct 5, 2014 by KrisCraig
You used to live in my building and we've exchanged less than pleasant words in the past.
I'm glad you're not permanently injured and will make a full recovery, but I hope this is a wake up call and you reconsider screwing with people you don't know. Sometimes there are consequences. Not blaming you at all, clearly you didn't deserve that, but it's best to let sleeping dogs lie - a lesson I've also learned.
http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/14459-nathan-fillion-speechless-gif-egov.gif
What. The. Fuck.
This thread has been linked to from elsewhere on reddit.
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Thanks, Mr. Bot! I went ahead and reported that thread. Looks like these guys have just decided to gang-up and bully me for some reason.
What a creepy thing to say. I guess whoever taught you the "sleeping dogs lie" thing didn't mention the one about not saying anything if you don't have anything nice to say.
....Huh? Yeah I have no idea who you are or what you're referring to (or how you got 7 upvotes for that), but you might want to consider taking your own advice about the whole "wake-up call" thing.
If you have some sort of personal grudge against me, I don't think you could have found a more inappropriate place to vent it.
[deleted]
Oh shit son
Damn, shit just got real. Made me rethink the entire altercation and the OP's version of events!
I can't tell if this is legit or not.
[deleted]
So from your perspective, is his whole narrative of what happened last night wrong because of your personal experience?
> /u/Authenticating
Username checks out.
mod of /r/digitalgangster, maybe the owner of digitalgangster.com
that would make you YT cracker. i can't tell if you're YT cracker trolling, or if you're someone pretending to be YT cracker trolling, or if you aren't trolling at all.
dafuq. i am confused on so many damn levels right now.
Are you serious?! I don't know what building you're referring to, but I have NEVER said "watch it faggot" or any variation thereof! When I bump into someone, I usually just quietly say, "Excuse me" or "Woops, sorry".
I'm not sure WTF this is, but for those of you who are wondering if this guy is legit, click on his username and look at some of his recent comments. For example:
"Are you retarded?"
"Fuck Canada. Canada is so racist, the entire country is whitewashed. At least in America we accept aspects of black culture like drugs, murder, and rape."
"Yeah keep trying to rationalize the fact you've been a disappointment to your father since birth."
"I don't mind hung or unhung I still jerk off to pictures of Mohamed all day everyday."
"Will someone please think of the retards? Please, I beg of you, think of the tards!"
I think I've made my point. This idiot is clearly just a troll. I don't use homophobic slurs when someone bumps into me. And I don't tell victims of violence that I'm glad they got hurt.
As I said earlier, I suggest you all ignore these two trolls.
My point is that if you don't going around provoking people, your face wouldn't have gotten smashed.
What the fuck is your problem? Cutting off someone in traffic is now provoking actual physical violence?
I think he is insinuating the road rage accident story might not be truthful bruh
Insinuate this: http://q13fox.com/2014/10/05/seattle-police-search-for-road-rage-suspect/
Fantastic mate, but the guy was attacking the integrity of your character saying that you lied about the incident. Just because you've filed a police report and got a news story online doesn't mean anything to johnny___ringo, he could believe you have continued to lie.
If you're going to attack someone's character, you generally should do that with some sort of evidence. Hell, he won't even say what building it was or what I said that upset him. Then that other troll stepped in and accused me of using anti-gay slurs, which is ironic if you take a look at his comment history.
Here's the thing: There were witnesses. At least one of them has already come forward and corroborated my story. The preliminary forensics also back it up. In fact, thus far, not one single piece of evidence has emerged that suggests I'm not telling the truth.
But that doesn't stop this asshole from accusing me of making it up. He has no basis for that accusation. He's just throwing it out there, allegedly because I hurt his feelings or something in an apartment building somewhere years ago.
The purpose of this thread is to help the police find this psychopath before he strikes again. I won't allow it to be hijacked by some circlejerk trolls.
The only thing the witness corroborated is that the dude beat your shit in. The witness wasn't close enough to hear anything or see anything that could help lead to identification, so why should we believe they would be close enough to know the story?
you know for my money I think Charmander is the best starter pokemon
Oh, you gave your story, but road rage is not a one sided incident. It takes two to escalate a situation. I know this for fact because of what I do for a living. My bet is you tried to be a tough ass and ran your mouth, obviously to the wrong person who then decided to be a real hard ass and stop the running of your mouth. Sorry you got your ass handed to you, but lesson learned here: Don't run your mouth in crowded traffic, you may get stuck next to the person that hands you your ass.
As a motorcycle rider who used to commute 50 miles a day on Seattle freeways, it's completely ludicrous to say that road rage is not a one sided incident. It is almost always 100% one sided.
You are one dumb dude lol.
And my point is that making excuses for this kind of random violence is deplorable and you should be ashamed of yourself. Nobody deserves to be viciously assaulted like that.
Some people do. Child rapists dude. What about child rapists?
Dang, your character has just been called into question. I'm guessing it would be interesting to know the entire story, not just your version.
[deleted]
You must be a captain. Captain Obvious.
You'd actually be amazed at the people who just take everyone at their word. It's like they came from some strange universe where no one has ever heard of lying. Wasn't that a movie?
http://q13fox.com/2014/10/05/seattle-police-search-for-road-rage-suspect/
Interesting how merely posting a link to a news article that shows this is a legit story already has several downvotes....
> Dang, your character has just been called into question. I'm guessing it would be interesting to know the entire story, not just your version.
And yet, the person accusing me of, uhh.... Wait, what is he accusing me of, exactly? Not being neighborly? Ok, let's go with that. The person who accused me of not being neighborly conveniently neglected to give any specifics. And as far as credibility goes, you're looking at someone who decided to air his dirty laundry on a post asking for help finding the man who beat me unconscious. On top of that, his message was essentially, "I'm not saying you deserved it, but you deserved it."
I've pissed plenty of people off over the years, but I'm not aware of any former neighbors who would've had any reason to hold a grudge against me. So I'm thinking this is probably just a troll, and as such I'd rather not feed him.
How did he "screw with someone he didn't know"? Jesus christ.
He cut them off and got into a road rage match. Read his story man. It also doesn't make a ton of sense that he didn't roll up his window when the dude was yelling at him and jumped out of his car. I would guess he was yelling right back.
So was OP actually a dick? Like what actually happened between you and him? because another user a couple of comments up also said he is an asshole
http://q13fox.com/2014/10/05/seattle-police-search-for-road-rage-suspect/
I read the story, man. The way he explains it, it sounds like he cut him off by accident. Happens. Didn't sound like he provoked anyone. Also that violence thing. Bit much.
It doesn't make ANY sense as he tells it.
He cuts someone off. They get in front of him and brake check him, still following him. They get stuck in traffic with the brake-checker stuck NEXT to him. He's shouting at him through the window and then magically came up on him from behind without warning with the window rolled down?
Sounds like the driver was just a much a part of escalating the situation. You certainly don't roll your window down if there's some crazed guy yelling at you and threatening you physically, then advancing at you unless you're yelling back.
His story doesn't add up.
Not sure I understand the downvotes but sure.