A suspect in an attempted party bus-jacking over the weekend is on the loose, but may be identifiable by his orange skin, the result of an encounter with local masked man Phoenix Jones.
A Seattle Police Department report says early Saturday morning the driver of a party bus was parked in a lot at 1st and Blanchard, passing out fliers shortly before closing time.
As the driver stood outside the bus, another man hopped on, climbed into the driver’s seat and tried to put the bus into gear. The driver saw what was happening and tried to stop the man.
As the driver and suspect struggled, the bus rolled backwards onto 1st Ave. and was struck by another vehicle.
The report says Phoenix Jones—the most famous member of Seattle’s Rain City Superhero Movement—was on patrol in Belltown with a film crew when he saw the driver struggling with the suspect.
Jones intervened, dousing the suspect with a pepper spray which apparently dyes the target’s skin a shade of orange for several days.
The suspect took off running.
According to Jones, a fight broke out near the scene, and he wasn’t able to go after the man.
Jones now says he didn’t receive any help from Seattle police, who took hours to respond to the incident.
Jones says the incident happened around 1:45 am, but a police report says an officer was not dispatched to respond until a little after 3:30 am.
“The reason he got away is because police didn’t respond,” Jones says. “Civilians are going to get hurt when someone gets carjacked and the police don’t show up for two hours.”
Seattle police declined to respond to Jones’ statement.
