Roughly two weeks after a homeless man allegedly attacked and tried to strangle a tourist who was visiting the Space Needle with his family, another man whom one source said police believe to be homeless was arrested for assaulting a father and his daughter walking to the Cinerama in Belltown on Father’s Day.
The father and daughter were walking to see a screening of “The Incredibles 2” when the suspect, David Ailep, allegedly trailed after them. According to the police report, the daughter tried to walk away, but Ailep stated, “Why are you laughing at me” and “Stop laughing at me,” although she wasn’t laughing.
The police report continued:
She observed that Ailep had his right hand in his pocket (she noted that it looked like was holding a knife in his hand covered by his jacket pocket) and his left hand was up and back in a striking position like he was going to hit her. She feared that he was going to strike her, and she decided to pull out her ASP baton from her purse to defend herself.
The police report stated that when the daughter yelled at Ailep to go away, he seized her arms and shook her until he could grab the baton. When she yelled out, her father realized what was happening and leaped at Ailep to tackle him. The police report added that Ailep hit the father “directly on the forehead” with the baton, leaving a “visible swollen laceration.”
Police received a 911 call, but when they arrived, Ailep fled, then lay on the ground to be detained. One officer posited that Ailep was drug-addled and “in a complete stand of delusion or delirium.” Ailep had a folding knife and a wallet that didn’t belong to him.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved Mayor Jenny Durkan’s latest homeless plan. As MyNorthwest reports, “The plan passed Monday gives the city 90 days to expand bridge housing and shelter units by 25 percent.”
Durkan stated, “With so many people living in Seattle unsheltered in inhumane, dangerous conditions, we must act quickly to move people into safer places where they can access services. City council quickly moved to approve my plan to invest resources into expanding badly-needed bridge housing and shelter, which is currently near capacity. When people have access to shelter, they’re more likely to take advantage of services like behavioral health, hygiene services, and employment support, and then move to permanent housing.”