Rantz: Man ‘sucker punched’ in downtown Seattle as crime plagues city

A man was “sucker punched” in an unprovoked attack in downtown Seattle over Memorial Day weekend, according to police. It’s the latest violent incident plaguing downtown, as city leaders and activists pretend the crime crisis is getting better.

The attack occurred Sunday at 2:08 p.m. when an officer witnessed some kind of disturbance on the sidewalk of the 1500 block of 1st Avenue. When the officer arrived, he saw a man punch someone. A friend of the victim told the officer that the victim was “sucker punched.” A source told The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH that the victim is a tourist, a detail a Seattle Police Department spokesperson said they could not confirm “at this time.”

After the alleged attack, the unidentified suspect fled the scene.

“I pursued him on foot yelling ‘POLICE STOP!’ but he ignored me and continued eastbound on Pine past 2nd AV and then towards 3rd AV,” the officer wrote in an incident report obtained by The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.

Soon, the suspect started to run away but the officer was able to eventually apprehend and arrest him.

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Witness details Seattle as victim ‘sucker punched’

The victim’s friend said the suspect was “smoking and appeared to have an open beer in his hand” when he approached them on the sidewalk as they were having a conversation. Unprovoked, the friend said the suspect “burnt [the victim] with a cigarette.”

The victim and friend walked away from the suspect, but they were followed, according to the police report. The suspect then, “without warning proceeded to punch” the victim in the back of the head. The victim fell “headfirst on the ground.” At that point, the friend said the suspect threatened to continue the assault, claiming, “I can take both of you.” That’s when the friend said the suspect “suddenly turned around and with a right closed fist, ‘sucker punched'” the victim in the face. The victim fell backwards onto the concrete sidewalk, “causing him to bleed profusely from the back of his head,” according to the police report.

The redacted police report says the victim was transported to Harborview Medical Center for “advanced lifesaving measures.” The suspect was arrested for investigation of assault 2 and malicious mischief.

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All is well?

Seattle politicians and activists pretend Seattle is making a comeback.

Buoyed by a U.S. Census report in a local newspaper indicating the city is the fastest growing in the nation (amongst large cities), the media is playing along. Some cherry-picked data, comparing today’s crime to record-highs in 2020-2022 without noting we’re still much higher than where we were pre-COVID. Others simply pretend the city is thriving, ignoring the negative stories to pretend the crime crisis is an invention of conservative media.

Seattle continues to see significant violent crime. At 28 suspected homicides so far this year, we’re on pace to exceed last year’s 52 and 2020’s 26-year-high of 53. Businesses continue to complain about frequent break-ins and other incidents of vandalism. On this very weekend, there were shootings across the region, including a murder and a teenager shot and injured in two separate incidents in West Seattle. And rather than give treatment to addicts, who are dying in record numbers, the city is paying to hand out needles and pipes. But people are moving to Seattle to work in tech, so I guess we’re thriving.

But if this is what it means to thrive, what does it mean when progressives admit there’s a crisis?

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