An unprovoked burst of violence by a repeat offender flagged as a “violent person,” left a 75-year-old woman permanently injured while she was out for a walk in Seattle.
Just before noon Friday, multiple people reported seeing a man moving erratically along Third Avenue and James Street, swinging a wooden board fitted with a metal screw, officials commented.
Witnesses described the suspect pacing the area and brandishing the improvised weapon as pedestrians moved through the downtown corridor.
According to police, the situation escalated moments later when the man approached a woman standing at the crosswalk at Third Avenue and James.
Without warning, he raised the board and swung it like a baseball bat, striking her from behind in the face.
The blow knocked the woman backward onto the pavement. Officers said she suffered a deep facial wound that was bleeding heavily.
Bystanders rushed toward her, some calling 911 while others tried to provide aid as she lay injured on the sidewalk.
Seattle Fire Department crews treated the victim, identified as 75-year-old Jeanette Marken, for severe facial trauma.
Paramedics then transported her to Harborview Medical Center, where she underwent emergency surgery, authorities said.
Family members later told KOMO that a screw protruding from the board gouged out Marken’s eye during the attack.
After multiple surgeries, doctors informed the family that she will not regain vision in that eye.
Marken’s son, Andrius Dyrikis, said the randomness and ferocity of the assault left his family struggling to comprehend what happened.
“To take a wood club with nails and hit her at full force in the face? I don’t understand it,” Dyrikis told the outlet.
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Video from the scene shows Marken walking toward the intersection moments before the assault.
The suspect, identified by police as Pea, is seen creeping up behind her before launching the strike.
After she fell, a bystander quickly took a photograph of the suspect before turning attention back to the injured woman.
Although the suspect initially walked away, officials said technology played a key role in locating him.
An analyst at the Real Time Crime Center reviewed available footage and identified Pea’s location, relaying that information to officers in the field.
Within about five minutes of the attack, deputies with the King County Sheriff’s Office spotted the suspect nearby and detained him without incident, police said.
Body camera footage from the arrest captured a revealing exchange as Seattle officers arrived.
One officer appeared to recognize Pea immediately, referring to him as “notorious for random assaults.”
A paramedic, hearing the comment, asked, “Who is this guy?”
“He’s a regular. He usually punches,” the officer replied. “I guess today he decided to escalate from his usual.”
Police later confirmed that Pea had previously been flagged with a “Violent Person” caution and is a convicted felon with a history of assault.
Court records reviewed by KOMO show that Pea’s criminal record stretches back more than a decade.
In 2011, he stabbed two people during a party, including one victim who was stabbed eight times.
Despite a jury conviction in that case, he received a sentence of 18-months community custody.
Authorities said Pea continued accumulating arrests in the years that followed, including one in 2020, four in 2023, and another in 2024.
King County Jail data shows he has been booked eight times this year alone for offenses ranging from assault and unlawful use of weapons to indecent exposure, drug violations, malicious mischief, and property destruction.
Despite the volume of arrests, Seattle Municipal Court and King County Superior Court records indicate none resulted in charges this year until the alleged assault on Marken.
Pea is now charged with assault in the first degree and remains in custody while awaiting a competency hearing scheduled for later this month.
In charging documents, prosecutors detailed his lengthy history, stating that his “egregious actions in this case, as well as his prior assaultive criminal history, demonstrate that he is a substantial danger to the community and is likely to commit a violent offense.”
Dyrikis said learning about the suspect’s past compounded his frustration, leaving him feeling abandoned by a system he believes failed to protect his mother.
“He’s a usual? A usual what? Attacking people? Civilians? What the hell is wrong with your system?” he said.
“I want someone to at least say to my mom, ‘Hey, we’re working on this, we’re fixing it… I want them to say, ‘we notice, hey, we’re working on it.’”
While Seattle grappled with the aftermath of Marken’s injuries, authorities in the Chicago area were dealing with another alleged act of sudden violence involving a repeat offender, though prosecutors say the circumstances unfolded differently.
In Forest Park, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago, police arrested Tommie O. Carter, 39, after he was accused of attacking a 59-year-old intellectually disabled man on a train platform over a single dollar.
WGN-TV reported that Carter has been arrested more than 40 times in Cook County.
Prosecutors allege Carter repeatedly asked the man for money before striking him and shoving him off the platform and onto the tracks below.
The victim narrowly avoided contact with the electric third rail as an approaching train was stopped by its operator in time.
Surveillance footage allegedly captured the incident, and the victim was hospitalized with fractures to both knees.
Carter was later charged with attempted murder and multiple counts of aggravated battery to a police officer after allegedly resisting arrest and spitting on officers.
Court records show Carter was already on pretrial release in another case and has multiple felony convictions, including a 2023 weapons offense.
A judge denied a request for electronic monitoring as he remains in custody.
