Police in Seattle on Saturday arrested a man suspected of stabbing a bus driver to death three days earlier.
Richard Sitzlack, 53, was found riding another King County Metro Coach bus, sleeping in the back, Seattle Police said.
They’d been looking for Sitzlack since Wednesday morning, when he got into an argument with Metro Coach driver Shawn Yim, 59, and another passenger over Yim’s keeping a window open to prevent it from fogging up, the Seattle Times reported. Sitzlack maced the driver, kicked him between the legs, and fled, according to court documents, while Yim called 911 and requested help.
Yim got off the bus, telling a dispatcher, “I just got assaulted. Hurry, please. He’s fleeing.”
Police obtained surveillance video that showed Sitzlack turning back and rushing toward Yim. They grappled with one another, and Yim is heard telling the dispatcher that he was stabbed.
“I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been stabbed, hurry please,” Yim said, according to KIRO. “I’m dying right now, hurry please, hurry please.”
By the time help arrived, Sitzlack was gone, and Yim was pronounced dead on the scene. He had a severed artery and his lungs were punctured. Police found a bloody knife in a trash can about a block away.
A witness told police that they recognized Sitzlack from a homeless camp earlier in the day. The camp’s records included a photo of Sitzlack’s driver’s license, and the witness identified him as the person who stabbed Yim.
Authorities say Sitzlack sliced him badly enough to sever an artery and puncture his lungs, which led to Yim dying at the scene. Officers found a bloody knife in a garbage can about a half-block away, per the police report, along with a Winchester knife sheath.
Police launched a search for Sitzlack, but it wasn’t until shortly before 5 a.m. on Saturday when another Metro Coach driver flagged down Seattle police officers and said they believed Sitzlack was on the bus. He was, asleep in the back.
Sitzlack is charged with murder.
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[Featured image: The arrest/Seattle Police Department. Inset: Left, Richard Sitzlack/SPD and Right, Shawn Yim/King County Metro Transit]
