SEATTLE — Skateboarding is not allowed in Sound Transit light rail stations, and "No Skateboarding" signs are clearly posted.
However, when Chaz Robert Butler was told not to skateboard by two Sound Transit security officers, he allegedly assaulted them both, breaking one officer's dentures.
Sgt. Ryan Abbott, of the King County Sheriff's Office, told KIRO 7 on Thursday that when Butler was asked by security personnel to stop skateboarding, "he stopped skateboarding and the second the security officers turned to walk away, he'd punch them.
And he punched them both pretty significantly with punches to the face."
The first incident happened Nov. 2, 2018, at the Beacon Hill Station.
The next day, a Transit security officer in the lower level of the Pioneer Square Station asked the same man not to skateboard and was "sucker punched on the right side of his face with a closed fist," according to documents filed recently in King County Superior Court.
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Detectives compared surveillance video from both stations. The same man appeared in both, with tape on his left shoe, a backpack and carrying a skateboard.
Investigators sent a lookout notice to all law enforcement and within days, Butler was arrested.
He was released from the King County Correctional Facility two days later without having to post bail.
In April, Butler was charged with two counts of assault thanks in part to "excellent video," Abbott said.
"When you have video evidence of it happening it's a lot easier for us as police to catch whoever is responsible."
Butler is described as homeless in police reports.
Cox Media Group
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