A 37-year-old man was arrested Saturday morning, Sept. 14, 2024, after a confrontation at a homeless encampment near King County Sheriff’s Office Precinct 4 on 6th Ave SW near SW 148th Street escalated into alleged vehicular assault, according to Burien Police/King County Sheriff’s Office.
Police said that at around 9 a.m. on Saturday, the man drove to the encampment with the apparent intent to confront or physically fight with its homeless residents.
Witnesses say he called out to individuals and attempted to instigate a fight.
During the incident, the man’s vehicle struck one of the tents pitched in the lot, further provoking a response from the camp’s residents.
As tensions escalated, a resident or onlooker deployed pepper spray on the man, which successfully halted his aggressive behavior.
Burien Police deputies arrived shortly after, took the man into custody, and treated him for the effects of the pepper spray.
There were no reports of serious injuries at the scene.
Based on information collected during the initial investigation, the male suspect was arrested and booked into King County Jail for investigation of Vehicular Assault.
His vehicle was impounded from the scene.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office will review the case and make a charging decision after examining the reports from the investigation.
Not All heroes wear capes. Shame the cops only enforce laws on one type of citizen and not the other.
We have to wonder did this person have a problem with the homeless in general or did they have a problem with a certain homeless person . Did they do a drug deal and got rip off or purchased lace drugs and almost overdosed or a friend or family member almost overdosed . Did they use to live at the encampment and got kick out . Did someone at the encampment still something from this person . Did they find out a underage family member been committing acts of prostitution at this encampment . What would make them want to kill or attempt to kill with a car . Are they just too wrap up in politics and 24h “news” thinks the homeless commit all the crimes and only the homeless do this no one else .
I predicted not too long ago that people would get fed up with the constant crime from the homeless in Burien and act out like this. I deal with people from the camp daily. Just a few days ago I was threatened by one who was shoplifting from the store I work at. This person then ran from the police and assaulted the officer who finally caught him. This camp needs to go. It is a blight on the City Of Burien in every way possible.
This camp actually fits in with the disgusting image Burien now sets for itself. Perfect!
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Another fine day in Burien!
I am disgusted that anyone would intentionally strike another human being with their car, and more disgusted at the folks cheering for this. No matter what precipitated this altercation, crashing into an encampment with a car is a horrific act and could have killed someone completely unrelated to this man’s beef with other of the encampment’s members.
Even if you disagree with encampments and have been directly impacted by their existence, nobody deserves to be mowed down with a car by way of vigilante justice. That’s not law and order, it’s the exact opposite of what our laws and freedoms stand for.
I’d rather suffer homeless folks than heartless folks, but there’s room enough for all of us to co-exist without taking the law into our own hands and running each other down.
Have some humanity!
Thank the County Bob Ferguson, Dow Constantine for their failures and please don’t vote for them unless you want Burien to get more of same, it’s not the City’s fault, they’ve done just about everything they can and the County/State rebukes it all, I’m a Democrat and I won’t vote for either of them
AMEN!
THANK YOU ANDREA!
So many assumptions being made here. It says the man’s vehicle struck one of the tents. It didn’t say he was trying to mow someone down. Are people assuming that “struck” means the car ended up in the middle of the tent? It also says “during the incident”. It doesn’t say if it occurred before or after the man was pepper sprayed. Not enough information IMO.
As far as the encampment, I think it needs to go per comments already made.
Larry, after re-reading the article, I agree with you that my initial reaction made some assumptions that are not necessarily true. Thanks for pointing that out and giving me the chance to process and reflect.
Regardless, I still feel that driving into a place where people might be sleeping, who have no actual walls or protective barriers, close enough that someone could have been injured or killed (striking a tent is far more dangerous for the person inside than striking the siding of one’s home), and then threatening violence against the residents of the encampment, is not what the United States, the State of Washington, King County, or Burien is about. We don’t do that here.
Even if you’d be more comfortable without the encampment, I just can’t see any justifiable reason for his actions, and I certainly can’t see any reason to praise or encourage them. The way people talk about homeless folks is disgusting and inhumane.
You see any reason for shooting up heroin/other drugs, going to bathroom directly on the sidewalk, throwing trash everywhere next to your camping area on a public sidewalk which is causing an obstruction for the public to walk by, also right next to the tent you’ve illegally placed on a public sidewalk and have been sleeping inside of? Anything wrong there ? When the average tax paying Burien citizen gets seriously hurt from this homeless camp… watch what happens then. ( I at least have the foresight to know its inevitable with no laws regulating it, were talking about human beings here…. you can look around any part of the US or any country and see what occurs in a lawless ring.)
The sheriff should live here for a week and see what goes on. The tax payers of Burien have had enough of the B.S. they don’t care if they are homeless, why should we!? The people are tired of the crime, stolen/ broken into vehicles, smashed windows. Urine/feces soaked streets. Some of us pay good money to rent the stupid over priced apartments around the city square. Please Burien, get your act together! Enough already. Has the sheriff seen the huge structure that now stands in the middle of the “useless camp”!? That’s where your children’s stolen bikes/scooters are! I even seen a motorcycle in there once! Does anyone else find it odd that a grown up is riding a child’s scooter with flashing pink lites? Burien, you are an embarrassment to king county!
Look around the whole united states if you find a city that not dealing with the same stuff look at price of living there and start packing your stuff . That would be your best option to move away for a few years when all the people screwing up on things are out of office . Then look at burien and see if gets better or worse . If gets better then move back
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Vote 🗳️ accordingly ♥️