Bystanders twice intervened to help a Seattle woman last week as she attempted to drive herself to the hospital with her ex-boyfriend in pursuit, once stopping him from reaching her after he blocked her car downtown, and then stopping his violent assault after she crashed into an apartment building on Capitol Hill, according to King County prosecutors.
Christian Mercado, whose first name also appears as Cristian in some court records, was charged Wednesday with first-degree assault, first-degree burglary and reckless endangerment, all of which were designated as crimes of domestic violence, according to charging papers. Prosecutors also included a domestic-violence aggravator, alleging the crimes occurred within sight or sound of children.
Mercado, 24, was arrested by Tukwila police on March 27, hours after prosecutors say he forced his way into his ex-girlfriend’s Seattle apartment and violently assaulted her, biting off her nose. He posted $100,000 bail after his first court appearance on March 29, according to prosecutors. After prosecutors successfully argued Thursday that new information in the case justified an increase in bail, Mercado posted $350,000 on Friday.
He is to be arraigned April 12. His defense attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the case.
Just before 3 a.m. on March 27, Seattle police responded to an apartment building in the 900 block of Sixth Avenue North, where they discovered broken wood by the woman’s dented front door and an open back door with shattered glass and blood on the ground, charging papers say.
By the time officers arrived, neither the woman or her ex-boyfriend were at the apartment.
The woman’s sister-in-law, who had been staying at the apartment with her children, told officers she had woken up to chaos and witnessed the woman’s ex-boyfriend fighting with a new male friend on the back patio, the charges say. The new friend knocked the other man out, then left with his son. When the ex-boyfriend regained consciousness less than a minute later, he attacked his ex-girlfriend, repeatedly punching her in the head and biting off part of her nose, according to the charges.
The sister-in-law also told officers the woman’s ex-boyfriend had smashed a glass bong over the woman’s head and during the assault, a gun fell out of his pocket but he quickly picked it back up, the charges say. The ex-boyfriend ran off, and the woman left to drive herself to the hospital.
Seven minutes after the initial 911 call, Seattle police responded to a report of a physical fight at Seventh Avenue and Pine Street. A witness showed officers a video he recorded, which included audio of a woman screaming for help and yelling that a man in another vehicle was trying to kill her, the charges say. The man used his car to block the woman’s car and attempted to reach her but was stopped by bystanders and then fled the scene, according to charging papers.
Eight minutes after the second 911 call, police were called to the 300 block of Bellevue Avenue East, where the woman had crashed her car into the side of an apartment building, the charges say. There, witnesses told officers they saw a man punching a woman as he held her down on the ground and they intervened, stopping the assault, the charges say. The man drove off as the witnesses brought the woman inside their apartment to wait for police and medics.
The woman was taken to Harborview, where doctors were unable to surgically reattach the portion of her nose that had been bitten off, the charges say.