Ballard's prolific liquor thief, who would steal hundreds of dollars of liquor at a time, was caught trying to steal shoes from the Northgate Mall's JC Penney.

As we reported last week in our police blotter, the suspect was confronted by security at the Market St Safeway when he attempted to shoplift $800-worth of booze on July 12. He had tried to cut one officer's neck with a knife and he proceeded to run away, leaving his prize behind.

On July 20, at the Northgate JC Penney, security had struggled with the same man. He and an unidentified white female -- 5'8", 150-160 lbs, brown hair and wearing a black sweatshirt and brown boots -- had attempted to steal shoes by taking them out of boxes and placing them in a bag.

Then, they appeared to get spooked, dropped the bag containing the shoes and left the store.

The witness, who had been watching the whole fiasco on the store's security cameras, then said the pair had reentered the store at around 7 p.m. They again started taking shoes out of boxes and this time placed them into a personal cart that the suspect had brought into the store. (The suspect had also used a personal cart in the prior Safeway incident to steal liquor.)

They then walked past several cashier stations with no attempt to pay. A loss prevention officer stood outside the exit doors on the north side of the store and met them as they came out.

When the security officer said the suspect needed to go back inside and pay, the suspect pushed the officer and began to reach toward his pants pockets where there was a knife. The officer took the suspect's wrist and pronated him onto the ground.

The suspect claimed that he had swallowed several valium pills. The Seattle Fire Department conducted an overdose test and said they suspected he was faking it. When the responding police officer checked records back at the North Precinct, he found multiple instances of the suspect saying he overdosed on pills and would be transported to Harborview Medical Center. In those incidents, he was never booked into King County Jail.

During a search of the suspect, two knives were taken and placed into evidence. The suspect would not give his name. He was transported to Harborview Medical Center, where SPD officers remained steadfast in guarding him. At the time of the report, the suspect had not been booked into the King County Jail.

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