1 stabbed, 1 arrested in Microsoft co-workers' fight over a woman

By Sara Jean Green
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

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What apparently began as a fight between Microsoft co-workers over a woman ended with one man being rushed into surgery and another arrested.

Just after 9:45 p.m. Friday night, Bellevue police received several 911 calls from people inside the Tap House Grill at the Bellevue Galleria Shopping Center, at 550 106th Ave. N.E., said police spokesman Michael Chiu. Callers reported a man had been stabbed, Chiu said.

Around the time the first calls came in, Officer Heather Black was driving on 106th Avenue Northeast and saw a man half-carrying another man on the sidewalk, Chiu said. Black pulled over and approached them.

A 25-year-old Bothell man was bleeding from a stab wound to the femoral artery in his upper left thigh, Chiu said. The man was taken to Bellevue's Overlake Hospital Medical Center, where he underwent surgery, he said.

A hospital spokeswoman said yesterday that the man had been discharged.

The other man, a 33-year-old from Snohomish, was arrested on suspicion of assault and booked into the King County Jail, Chiu said. On Monday, he was released after posting $25,000 bail, a jail official said.

The stabbing occurred after the two men, both Microsoft employees, fought over a woman, Chiu said. The three were at the restaurant with co-workers, many of whom witnessed the fight and called police, Chiu said.

Police later found a folding knife with a 3-inch blade in bushes about 20 feet from where Black first approached the two men.

It was the second time in less than a month Bellevue police have been called to a bar at the Galleria shopping center. On Dec. 23, 17 officers from four cities were called to break up a brawl at the Rock Bottom Brewery that landed two people in the hospital.

Chiu said the timing doesn't indicate a growing problem: "Our nighttime officers who are assigned to downtown are aware this place has a large nightlife, so obviously, it's on their radar."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654

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