Seattle police give food, warm clothes to elderly robbery victim

Seattle police officers provided groceries and warm clothing to an elderly robbery victim in need Saturday after discovering that he had little food and no heat in his home.

According to a police report on the incident, the man was walking home along South Horton Street in the Mount Baker neighborhood around 6:00 p.m. when an unknown black male hit him in the head from behind, knocking him to the ground. The victim told police that the suspect kicked, punched, and stomped on him repeatedly.

The suspect, who is described as a young black male, 6’1″ tall, with a thin build, stole a bag from the victim that contained two sweatshirts and a pair of gloves.

The victim ran to his residence, where he called police.

Officers Dionne Perkins and Mark Mullens of the South Precinct were first on scene.

“When the officers responded to the victim’s home, they found that he had no heat and it was about 20 degrees outside that night,” said Det. Renee Witt with the department’s public affairs unit. “Basically, the stolen clothing items were to keep him warm inside of his home.”

The Seattle Fire Department was called to the scene and discovered that the victim’s refrigerator was broken and only one burner on his stove was working.

“I asked (the victim) if he was hungry and he said that he had not eaten since this morning when he went to visit his 90-year-old mother in North Seattle,” Officer Perkins wrote in a report.

While Officers Perkins and Mullens went to a nearby Safeway store to buy the victim groceries, a third officer – Chris Caron – found two warm coats to give the man.

A victim support team was called to the home and Seattle firefighters helped the man fill out paperwork to be listed as a vulnerable adult in order to receive essential services.

“I think, in this situation, any of our almost 1,300 sworn officers would have done the exact same thing,” Det. Witt said. “We have officers and civilians who do these types of things every day and it goes unnoticed.”

Officers have not identified a suspect in the robbery.