Seattle police on Tuesday arrested a man they suspect was involved in the assault and robbery of the founders of a popular Rainier Beach restaurant and laundromat.
A suspect in the January assault and robbery of the founders of Seattle’s King Donuts was arrested Tuesday after he barricaded himself beneath a Chinatown-International District building.
The 21-year-old man led U.S. Marshals and Seattle police on a brief chase Tuesday afternoon after officers tried to arrest him on several felony warrants, according to Seattle police. The man was spotted near 12th Avenue and South Jackson Street and then ran to an office at 12th Avenue and Main Street, where he hid in a crawl space beneath the building and refused to come out for 2½ hours.
U.S. Marshals, Seattle Police and King County sheriff’s deputies surrounded the building and deployed noise devices before the suspect came out. He was arrested around 3 p.m.
Police believe the man was involved in the Jan. 2 assault and robbery of Heng Hay and Chea Pol, the founders of King Donuts, a popular restaurant and laundromat in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood.
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Hay and Pol had locked up the business around 7:15 p.m. that day when a man ran up to Pol as she was getting into her car and grabbed her purse, police say. The suspect then punched her several times. When her husband tried to intervene, he also was punched and then thrown to the ground.
The couple, who escaped the Khmer Rouge regime in their native Cambodia and immigrated to the United States in 1981, were hospitalized after the assault. Pol was treated for a dislocated jaw, and all her upper teeth had to be pulled. Since their hospitalization, more than 470 donors have contributed $23,528 to an online crowdfunding page for the couple’s medical care.
“Our city is safer tonight now that this violent individual is in custody,” Seattle police Chief Kathleen O’Toole said in a news release. “This arrest is a testament to the tireless work of our detectives, and the importance of our partnerships in law enforcement. I hope this news brings some comfort to the victims, their family and the Rainier Beach community.”