Authorities said they are investigating an assault incident that happened last week and involved a group of people protesting loudly around midnight in a Seattle neighborhood, outside the Queen Anne home of a man, who was viciously beaten and hospitalized with injuries to his head.
Detectives with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) said in a statement that they met the 42-year-old victim at the Swedish Hospital, where he was being treated for the head injury and has since been released.
The assault was allegedly prompted after the victim told the noisy protesters to quiet down because he was trying to sleep, while also recording the confrontation with the activists on his phone, making some members of the group angry.
“He was attempting to sleep but was kept awake by a protest that had been making its way through the neighborhood,” SPD officials wrote in the statement. “Members of the protest became angry that he was recording them, flashed laser pointers in his eyes, and then struck him in the head with a blunt object, possibly a flashlight.”
The victim said some of the protestors attempted to help him after he was assaulted while another member of the group deleted the video he recorded.
A witness transported the man to the hospital, police said.
A video of the altercation was captured by a protester and published by KIRO7, showed portions of the altercation.
In the video, the victim and protesters can be seen, with one of them asking the man shortly before he was hit, “what is your problem here?”
“I have no problem,” the victim responds. “So, why are you over here?” the protester asked the victim shortly before the video ends.
In another angle of the video, protesters can be seen shining a flashlight in the man’s face as he tells them to be quiet so he can sleep.
The victim can then be seen grabbing the flashlight before another protester closes in and reportedly beats him to the ground with an object, possibly a flashlight.
“Officers spoke with multiple witnesses who confirmed the victim’s story, found surveillance cameras that may have captured the incident, and took photos of blood splatter at the crime scene,” SPD officials said.
A witness told KIRO7 that “it was in the middle of the night and it was quite loud.”
Another neighbor told the outlet she heard “a loud noise, [and] a commotion. So, my husband and I got out of the bed, I peaked out the window and I saw a gentleman lying there.” The neighbor added that “the people I saw around him were not hurting him; they were trying to help him up.”
The SPD is now asking anyone with information to contact the Violent Crimes tip line at 206-233-5000.
