By Tim Clifford

Friday, May 8, might as well have been Friday the 13th for three criminals cruising through Boulevard Park.

At 7 a.m. dispatchers received from a concerned citizen who informed them they were trailing a “suspicious” vehicle with two men and one female inside it. The caller claimed that the vehicle was stolen and decided to keep on the car’s trail from S. 96th St. all the way down to 116th until the car parked in front of a small cluster of apartments.

The caller watched as one of the men left the car and headed towards the apartments. Shortly after the car had been parked deputies managed to confirm that the license plate to the vehicle matched that of a stolen car out of Bellevue. The theft had occurred at 2 a.m. that morning.

Police moved in on the car with Guardian One above and arrested the two suspects who had remained in the car. As they headed towards the apartment complex to arrest the third suspect he came out of an apartment just they were approaching and ran away.

Seven units responded and immediately set up a small perimeter.

Residents began coming out of their homes to ask the officers what was going on. At that time all that officers knew about the suspect was that he had been involved in stealing a car.

While tightening the perimeter officers suddenly heard a woman crying out for help. Running to the home the woman was calling from officers rushed in to find her husband beating the suspect with a frying pan. Apparently the suspect had thought to use the couple’s bedroom as a hiding place.

“The wife walks in, sees the guy, and screams and then husband comes in (it’s about 7 o’clock in the morning) and hits the guy with a frying pan. It’s a great story. I mean it’s breakfast time so it kind of makes sense,” explained King County Sgt. Stan Seo.

Though beaten and caught the suspect did not suffer any injuries.

It was soon discovered that the first apartment the suspect had been seen leaving was actually his latest burglary. In total all three suspects had been caught in the act of committing a multitude of crimes within minutes of police arriving. The three suspects were arrested and booked into the King County Jail.