EVERETT — A man burned in a drug deal was reportedly behind the violence that erupted last month outside an International House of Pancakes.
Everett police detectives suspect that a drug dealer finally caught up with a man he’d been hunting for more than a year. The dealer reportedly lost his cocaine source and asked the other man to buy for him. The two had done business together in the past. The dealer handed over $7,800, but the man disappeared with the cash, according to a search warrant filed in Everett District Court.
The thief had heard from sources that the dealer was looking for him. Their paths crossed July 22 outside the IHOP on Evergreen Way.
The man who disappeared with the drug money left the restaurant and was trying to get into his car when the dealer zapped him from behind with an electric stun gun. A second man joined the assault. The men bludgeoned the other guy with a heavy object. The attackers pulled out zip ties and tried to bind the man’s wrists in front of him.
The dealer asked, “Did you really think you’d get away with it?”
The injured man “was fighting for his life as they struck him and tried to force him into their vehicle,” an Everett police detective wrote in the search warrant affidavit.
The victim realized he was being hit with a handgun. The dealer squeezed off a round while the men were fighting. No one was shot and the scuffle continued. The assailants ran for their vehicle when they heard approaching police sirens.
The injured man was bleeding from his face and hands. He also had a deep gash to his head and a large bump on his forehead. He was taken to a hospital, where doctors used staples to close the head wound.
Everett police caught up with the suspects. They both declined to talk to officers. The dealer was wearing a bulletproof vest. Police didn’t find the gun.
They located zip ties on the ground. Detectives later found zip ties fashioned into handcuffs in the suspects’ car along with a Taser. They also found a roll of duct tape and a collapsible baton.
The men were booked into jail for investigation of assault and attempted kidnapping. They have since been released. The case remains under investigation.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463: hefley@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
