

(Reader photo, early Saturday afternoon – cropped just above where suspect was lying on ground, in custody)

As promised, we followed up today on Saturday’s bizarre and frightening Avalon Way incident involving a naked man running in the roadway, bolting into a business, and smashing windows on an occupied Metro bus before police got him under control.



(Photo from KD – bus windows smashed during rampage)

We had few details that day – most of the story was told by commenters – but we obtained the police report narrative today and have transcribed much of it. It begins:

At 11:52 (am) … numerous callers reported a naked male in the vicinity of SW Avalon Way/SW Andover Street acting erratically and armed with a hammer. Dispatch advised the following: “On Avalon, just north of intersection, naked male hitting vehicles and lying in the middle of the road. The subject was described as a white male, late twenties to forties, 5’8” to 6’, thin, bald, facial hair, and completely naked.

Three officers were sent, two who are described as having had Crisis Intervention Training, one described as from the SW Precinct Bicycle Squad. They were in the small bus that transports the bicycle squad, “which lacks emergency equipment or in-car video,” the report notes, continuing:

Prior to officers arriving, dispatch updated that the subject was unintelligibly yelling, striking vehicles with a hammer, appeared high, jumped onto a pickup truck, stopping traffic, lying in the street, dancing, broke a bus window, went into a pet-care business, and covered in blood, chasing people with a hammer.

Arriving officers requested SFD medics and AMR be dispatched and stage nearby. Upon arriving to the incident location at 12:01 hours, officers observed the subject standing in the southbound lanes of SW Avalon Way/SW Andover Street. A large pile of glass was observed in the roadway, slightly south of the subject’s current location. The subject, later identified as (redacted, born in 1986), was observed nude waving the hammer in the lane of traffic. Prior to contacting (him), the roles of less-lethal, contact, and lethal cover were assigned among the three officers (who) made contact with (the man) and gained initial verbal compliance. (He) placed himself on the ground in a dynamic modified prone but maintained possession of the hammer. As soon as (he) released the hammer, he was placed into custody. SFD Engine 36 arrived and began attempting to treat (the man) on scene. (He) had numerous abrasions and smaller lacerations on his body. He was sweating, but not more than would be considered normal given his recent activities. He had what appeared to be silver spray paint around his mouth and nose. He was able to articulate words and express fears of being chased by unknown persons. (He) provided numerous names to officers and spoke quickly without a clear path between topics.

He was eventually identified because other officers arriving at the scene recognized him as someone they had referred for an involuntary evaluation about a week earlier. The report says he was then to Harborview Medical Center. At that point, the report goes into more of what had happened with the bus:

The driver of the damaged King County Metro bus arrived back on scene, being escorted by a King County Metro supervisor. The driver … stated he was traveling southbound … on SW Avalon Way. He observed (the man) standing in the roadway blocking his lane of travel. (The driver) stopped the bus to avoid striking (the man … who) approached the driver side of the bus and grasped the driver’s side window, holding a hammer, and stated people were after him. (The driver) closed his window and refused to open the door in fear for himself and his passengers. (The man) struck both windows on the driver’s side of his compartment, shattering both. (He) then struck the windshield twice with a hammer before going to the rear of the bus. When (he) moved from in front of the vehicle, (the driver) continued southbound, declining to stop at a nearby bus stop in fear for his passengers’ safety. (The driver) stated he was covered in glass from the incident but only received a small cut on his left calf. He had multiple passengers on the vehicle, all of which were transferred to another bus after he left the location.

We asked Metro today about the bus’s status; spokesperson Scott Gutierrez tells us it “has been repaired and will return to service this afternoon or tomorrow morning.” Meantime, the police report tells one more story, that of the employees in the Pet Care Center, who said the man had entered the clinic, unclothed and holding a hammer, also claiming he was being chased, and trying to lock the door from the inside; they activated alarms but said, according to the report, “(he) did not threaten anybody inside the business and quickly exited the building, where he was contacted by police.”

Separate from the mental-health commitment, the report says police are recommending the man be charged with property destruction because of the damage to the bus.