Aaron Fulk: Thug who beat disabled man to death was FREED 8 days earlier by woke judge who ignored bail
PIKE PALACE, SEATTLE: A 66-year-old disabled man was beaten to death with a makeshift weapon in Seattle allegedly by a serial criminal freed by a local judge on a separate felony charge just eight days earlier.
Horrific surveillance footage caught a man said to be Aaron Fulk, 48, hammering 66-year-old Rodney Peterman with a metal rod on Tuesday, August 02, at Third and Pike in downtown Seattle, an area notorious for violence and drugs, KOMO reported.
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In the court trial, the prosecutors said Fulk kept on beating Peterman, who had mobility issues and used a walker, even after he struck his head on the ground and fell unconscious during the attack. The victim’s skull was fractured after being struck at least three times in the back of the head and on the temple, according to medical reports. The beating continued until a good samaritan intervened and pushed Fulk back.
"No one deserves to be brutally beat like that," Loren Page, who intervened in the attack, told KOMO. "I apologize for not being there, one more club strike earlier. It's unacceptable. It should not happen in any city. We should do something about it."
Bystanders tried to help Peterman by performing CPR but he never regained consciousness and died in the hospital four days later. Cops arrested Fulk as he attempted to walk away from the crime scene. But the motive behind the attack and Fulk's connection with Peterman is still unknown.
However, Fulk might not have been out on the streets at all were it not for the actions of Pierce County Superior Court Judge Philip Thornton.
Fulk got out of prison just 8 days earlier after Judge Thornton released him on felony harassment charges of threatening to kill a local worker. Ignoring prosecutors' request for a $10,000 bail, the judge released him and simply asked him not to commit any more crimes.
Now, Fulk's alleged actions have sparked fury over judge Thornton’s decision and have made him a symbol of Seattle's apparent unwillingness to crack down on serious crime. Thornton is one of several judges across the country who are applying lax bail rules to their criminal cases, allowing culprits to get back to the streets without any bond.
Fulk is held at the King County Jail on a $2.5 million bond after prosecutors managed to convince the court that he is a danger to the public. His criminal past includes a litany of cases including assault, aggravated battery, attempted assault, and disorderly conduct in neighboring Idaho.
According to court documents, Fulk told an officer, "If I have to go to jail for it, I will," and "I'm gonna kill him a million times over." The officer then asked him, "Was it your intention to kill him?" Fulk replied, "Ah, yeah, forever."
"The defendant admitted to officers that he was trying to kill the victim, and while acknowledging the victim was the first that he attacked in this manner, [he] made it clear this victim would not be his last," Senior Deputy Prosecutor Gretchen Holmgren wrote in the charging document, as seen by the Seattle Times.
Seattle Police Department Chief Adrian Diaz has shared his concern about judges releasing serial criminals like Fulk. "We can't just let people out if they're harming our community. If they're victimizing other people. We've got to have measures in place, we've got to have accountability. That's a huge concern. They're harmful to our community," Diaz said.