Homeless man deploys smokescreen, jumped on Lime bike in attempt to flee Seattle Police

An unhoused individual hit a Safeway employee on the head with a metal pole and discharged a fire extinguisher in a parking garage near Northgate to escape arrest on Monday.

At approximately 11 a.m., the Safeway employee approached the homeless man and asked him to move away from the business’s parking garage, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) reported.

The unhoused man became “unhinged” and hit the employee in the forehead with a four-foot-long metal pole, which caused serious injury.

Homeless man uses fire extinguisher blast to escape Seattle Police

As SPD officers arrived, the suspect had just discharged a fire extinguisher inside the garage, making it difficult for officers to see as he fled the scene.

Roughly 20 minutes later, the suspect was located six blocks away from the Safeway, still armed with the large metal pole.

The suspect threatened officers with the pole and then took off running again before he could be apprehended.

The suspect then hopped on a Lime bike in another attempt to evade officers. After growing tired of riding the bike about four blocks, he was stopped and taken into custody without further incident.

SPD noted that a level 2 use of force was used on the suspect during the arrest.

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