Security officer mistaken for police officer slashed with machete
Seattle WA Sept 13 2020
As agitators started fires and burned a flag outside the East Precinct, a woman used a machete to attack a security guard across the street. She confused him for a Seattle police officer.
Ernanda Bendisen, 32, spotted a security officer at 12th Ave Arts on Capitol Hill as she was driving by.
According to the Seattle Police Department, she shouted insults at the 50-year-old security guard from her window, including calling him a “child molester.” It escalated from there.
Police say Bendisen then pulled over and exited the vehicle with a Nerf Blaster toy gun to approach the guard. She asked if he was police, and he said no. She didn’t seem to believe him.
Court documents say she returned to her vehicle, warning the guard “I got something for you.” That’s when she pulled out a 12-inch machete.
When she walked towards the security officer, machete in hand, he ran into the building he was guarding and tried to pull the door shut. But Bendisen was able to fight to keep the door partially open.
In the struggle, she slashed the security guard’s arm, leaving two five-inch wounds.
Eventually, she gave up and fled in her car, but the damage was significant. When Seattle police arrived, they found the guard “bleeding profusely” from the cuts.
According to police, some of the agitators tended first aid since their goal has been to harm police officers, not security guards, and I guess they were done waging their assault on the East Precinct.
Luckily, police found Bendisen nearby. She pulled into a gas station to change her clothes. Police spotted her and placed her under arrest.
Her first appearance was Wednesday and a judge found probable cause for second-degree assault. The King County Prosecutor’s Office asked that she be held on $350,000 bail but the judge set it at $80,000. As of Thursday evening, she remained in custody.
The security officer was transported to Harborview Medical Center where he is expected to make a full recovery.
