SEATTLE — An off-duty firefighter was stabbed and is facing criminal charges with another firefighter after attacking a homeless man sleeping on a memorial for fallen firefighters in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, fire and police said.
The attack happened Saturday when the two off-duty firefighters and a woman, all apparently drunk, walked by the sleeping man. According to witnesses, the woman yelled at the man for sleeping at the memorial and then kicked him, police said.
The firefighters then joined in, hitting the man with a stick and kicking him. The homeless man defended himself and furnished a knife. He struck one of the firefighters.
Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Lt. Sue Stangl confirmed the involvement of the firefighters. She said the department is looking at what happened and doesn’t have a full statement yet.
She said the firefighters are 15- and 17-year veterans of the Fire Department. The woman involved is not part of the department.
She said one of them has been on disability since January, while the other had last worked last Thursday.
The woman and the non-injured firefighter were booked into King County jail to face assault charges. The stabbed firefighter was taken to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening wounds. He’ll be charged after his release from the hospital.
The homeless man refused medical treatment.
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