City
One-Legged Man Allegedly Sets Fire to Apartment, Leaps From Building
Seattle Police and firefighters responded to an automatic alarm call at the Bellevue Olive Apartments—on Bellevue and Olive, naturally—yesterday evening after a man started a fire in the building.
According to a police report, a man—who fire department sources say only had one leg—barricaded himself in his apartment and started the fire on the building’s fourth floor. The building’s sprinkler system kicked in and put out the fire, and the man jumped from his fourth floor apartment onto a patio four stories below. SPD spokeswoman Renee Witt says the man “was warning other tenants to stay out of the building if they didn’t want to get hurt.”
Several Bellevue Olive residents reportedly told police that the man had not been taking his medication and had told building management that “people had been breaking into his apartment and hacking his computer.”
The man was taken to Harborview but his condition is unknown. The man has not been charged with anything, although the case could be referred to prosecutors once SPD finishes its investigation.
Comments (13)
Why is the man having one leg part of this story??
No need to bring it up except sensationalism.
Posted by Hartiepie | September 23, 2008 3:31 PMSounds like this crochety old one-legged vietnam vet named Randy.
Posted by meks | September 23, 2008 3:36 PMI think his missing leg is relevant because he jumped from his apartment and fell four floors. That's a serious fall for anyone, but for this man, that's extraordinary he's doing "well".
Also, fuck this guy, he tried to burn down dozens of homes.
Posted by Dougsf | September 23, 2008 3:38 PMDr. Richard Kimball thought he'd had the one-legged man cornered, I bet!
Posted by NapoleonXIV | September 23, 2008 3:40 PMSounds like a suicide attempt. Twice botched. A real knee-slapper over at the Stranger.
Posted by Julie Russell | September 23, 2008 3:49 PMI'M N YR STUDIO HAXIN YER TUBES
Posted by w7ngman | September 23, 2008 3:51 PMfigures.
Posted by Lionel Hutz | September 23, 2008 4:28 PMisn't this subsidized or low income housing?
this is across the street from me and I was wondering what the sirens were about.
Posted by Bellevue Ave | September 23, 2008 6:12 PMFirst, some background:
Bellevue-Olive Apartments is a low-income building owned and operated by Housing Resources Group (whose main office is actually on the first floor of the building). It's not subsidized housing. HRG doesn't do much of that. HRG mostly "workforce" housing for people making $10-20 an hour.
What happened:
You get the gist from the Slog post. The guy might have been an Iraq war vet... which makes this double-plus sad. He wheeled his wheelchair up the window and made like Handi Man (from In Living Color...) out the window.
Then what happened:
The guy basically exploded his remaining leg, one of his arms, and a jaw. I say exploded because there was bone sticking out everywhere (according to a shaky resident that saw the mess). He was taken to Harborview and will live.
I overheard the police talking; they needed information on the guy because they thought his intent might have been to burn the building down. The sprinkler hosed so much water that the guy living below the jumper (leaner?) had to spend the night elsewhere on account of the flooding.
Posted by I'll explain most everything for you. | September 23, 2008 6:33 PMHell, i'd qualify to live there then.
Posted by Bellevue Ave | September 23, 2008 7:42 PMThe hard part must have been writing the police report.
"Hey Jim, how tall was he?"
"Well, he used to be 6-3, but then he lost a foot."
Sorry - it's a sickness.
Posted by snort | September 23, 2008 7:49 PMHe wasn't prescribed any meds.
Posted by just because you're paranoid... | September 23, 2008 10:06 PMHe didn't jump.
They were hacking his computer.
That's funny because i guy pulled out a knife at QFC 2 weeks ago accusing them of interfering with their computer system with satellite dishes and they were going to his head. The man had previously broken into aggression with the little deli girl regarding the situation while she was serving customers. he was arrested on the saturday after lurking around broadway market, trying to stay the night.
Posted by emmanuel | September 23, 2008 10:20 PMComments Closed
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