A kidnapping victim managed to escape his captors after they crashed into a Seattle home Thursday.
The 63-year-old male victim was beaten, bound and forced into the trunk of his own vehicle before those suspected of kidnapping him crashed into a residential home in the early hours of Thursday morning, according to KING5. Witnesses to the fiery crash said a man climbed out of the vehicle following the collision.
“Then we heard a screaming of ahh, ahh. I think he was trying to scream for help,” neighbor Cheng Yu told the outlet. Another neighbor, Raegan McKibbon helped the victim get across the street and away from the crash, noting that “he was beat up pretty bad.”
“They had cut his face with a knife and had beat him up pretty badly,” McKibbon continued. The victim further claimed he was assaulted by multiple individuals before being tied up and forced into the trunk of his own car.
The Seattle Fire Department arrived on the scene shortly after 5 a.m. as the fire from the crash had spread into the home from the vehicle, KING5 reported. It’s unclear whether the fire department put out the fire or if the homeowner, who grabbed a fire extinguisher, managed to put it out, as the New York Post reported.
Police were able to transport the victim to a local area medical center, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Law enforcement questioned one potential suspect in relation to the kidnapping and crash, but he was later released. The other suspects remain at large, KING5 reported. (RELATED: Starbucks Is Closing 16 Stores Amid Crime And Drug Use Concerns)
Crime has risen significantly in Seattle in recent years. In August 2022, a woman in her mid-30s was shot and killed during a home invasion. On the rise in homicides and violent crime in the city, one local told The Seattle Times that “it’s becoming normal.”