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Distressing footage showed a disabled 66 year-old being beaten to death with a metal pole in Seattle – allegedly by a serial criminal cops say had been freed by a local judge on a separate felony charge just eight days earlier.
Aaron Fulk, 48, is said to be the man caught on surveillance footage as he bludgeoned 66-year-old Rodney Peterman with the makeshift weapon in the Washington city’s notoriously crime-ridden downtown.
It happened close to Seattle’s world-famous Pike Place food market, a popular tourist-hot spot, KOMO reported.
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Prosecutors say Fulk kept on beating Peterman even after the victim fell unconscious during the August 2 attack. It fractured the skull of Peterman – who had mobility issues and used a walker – who was struck at least three times in the back of the head and on the temple.
Although bystanders performed CPR on Peterman, he never regained consciousness and died in hospital four days later.
Fulk was arrested as he attempted to walk away from the scene of the crime. It’s unclear if he knew his victim before the attack, and what his motive was.
But he might not have been out on the streets at all were it not for the actions of Pierce County Superior Court Judge Philip Thornton.
Thornton had come across Pierce days earlier, and decided to release him without bail on felony harassment charges after he allegedly threatened to kill a local city worker.
Thornton released Fulk on his own recognizance, and asked him not to commit any more crime.
The serial criminal’s subsequent behavior has sparked fury over Thornton’s decision to ignore prosecutors’ request for $10,000 bail, and is being viewed as symbolic of Seattle’s apparent unwillingness to crack down on serious crime.