A man who tried to steal a Trojan vibrating condom, lube, mascara and other items form a North Seattle Rite-Aid was arrested for robbery Tuesday, but not before he fled from the store and used a Taser on the drug store’s loss prevention officer, police said.
The man, who also had a misdemeanor drug warrant from Mountlake Terrace, was there with another woman and a 3-year-old child, according to an investigators report.
The incident happened about 3:20 p.m. Tuesday in the 13200 block of Aurora Avenue North – a stretch of state Route 99 known for prostitution and drug problems.
The loss prevention officer approached the man after noticing he paid for only a few items, according to police. The loss prevention officer tried to grab him repeatedly, but the man kept pulling away. The man and woman ran across the street to the K-Mart parking lot where the loss prevention officer again tried to detain him.
That’s when the man pulled out a Taser and shocked the loss prevention officer in the neck.
The victim’s neck was still numb when he relayed the story to police, but they noted he was still able to recover two USB flash drives. A witness who was in the nearby Ross parking lot told police he saw the two men in a tug of war when the suspect pulled out brass knuckles and started taking swings before getting the Taser.
Police said the victim was Tased five or six times, then the suspect jogged away.
But the victim followed the suspect and tried to get the Taser away. A witness helped hold him down until police arrived, but the woman with the suspect grabbed the Taser.
That woman told police the suspect bought the Taser the night before at a smoke shop and that during the incident he told her to take the Taser and run. She claimed she didn’t hear the victim identify himself as a loss prevention officer.
The suspect was booked into King County Jail.
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