The streets of Seattle are a lot safer today after a crime-fighting father took down a suspected criminal.
Bill Steinkirchner says his daughter was harassed, threatened and attacked by a man near the UW campus on Sunday. She was shaken but unharmed, Steinkirchner says.
Steinkirchner lives in California, but says he has booked the next available flight to Seattle in hopes of confronting the man.
“I think any father would have done the same. She's my little girl,” he says.
When Steinkirchner arrived in Seattle, he says he used descriptions and photos provided by his daughter and fellow students to track down the suspect. Students posted on a UW message board that they had been harassed by the same man all weekend.
Steinkirchner says he confronted the suspect in the university district, but the man took off running. Steinkirchner says he chased the man through alleys, calling police as he went.
“I’m on the phone with the police and they’re like, ‘You can’t chase him.’ They’re like, ‘Stop following him.’ I’m like, ‘No!’ I’m like, ‘This is my daughter, I’ve got to get this guy.’”
When police arrived, they handcuffed the suspect. Officers then brought Steinkirchner's daughter to the scene to identify him.
A security guard who was nearby also confirmed the man's actions to police.
Police then took the suspect, 23-year-old Ryan Dileo, to jail.
In a statement to KIRO 7, Seattle police wrote: “A nearby security guard identified Dileo as a suspect in other similar broom-wielding incidents. Officers arrested Dileo for investigation of aggravated harassment. Dileo was booked into the King County Jail.”
