WILD

Firefights, Building Jumps, and an Uber’s Rescue: How a 20-Year-Old Escaped Her Menacing Pimp

The 20-year-old broke her leg in her desperate attempt to escape the man who pimped her out, police said.

A pimp in the “prostitution underworld” was arrested by Seattle police on Sunday after one of his prostitutes under him escaped—but not before a citywide pursuit that involved a firefight with an Uber driver, city and state troopers, and jumping out of a third-floor window.

William Burt, known as Dick Capone, was arrested outside a $1.4 million South Seattle home he rented through Airbnb on Sunday. The charges included assault, kidnapping, promoting prostitution, human trafficking, and a drive-by shooting, the Seattle Times reported Friday, and stemmed from his prostitution of at least four women in their early 20s.

“The defendant leads a sex trafficking enterprise that has operated in at least three U.S. states involving multiple victims, who have been exploited, harmed and maimed by the defendant’s violent and coercive actions,” King County senior deputy prosecutor Benjamin Gauen wrote in the charges.

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Burt, 30, was being kept on a $750,000 bond, and he is set to be arraigned on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors said additional charges were likely.

A 20-year-old California woman identified as H.A. told Burt she wanted to leave on Nov. 2, according to charging documents obtained by the Seattle Times. Burt responded to the request with torturous conditions, beating and pistol-whipping the woman before locking her in the Airbnb for days without her phone or funds. The group had been living in the home for about a month, the documents said.

The woman was then physically assaulted again on Saturday, leading her to make a daring escape. After she found the path to the front door obstructed, she leaped out of a third-floor window and darted off—all while in just her underwear and with a broken ankle.

Burt and the other women eventually caught up to her, according to an incident report, and forced her to get into his Mercedes-Benz as he drove to the Emerald Motel, where he bought rooms for his prostitutes to complete their “dates.” As the other women went inside, Burt told her at gunpoint that he would let her leave—but not before he broke all of her teeth. However, H.A. managed to break free again, finding herself topless and in the middle of a highway as she sought her final escape.

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An Uber driver passing by became that conduit, police said. He urged the woman to jump into his van and sped off—with Burt in pursuit. The pimp fired gunshots at the Uber driver, who managed to return fire with his own gun. The firefight led them both through Seattle’s Interstate 5 before the driver pulled into a gas station to await police. No one was injured by the shots, the documents said.

The woman was hospitalized for her injuries, which included a broken leg, ankle, and multiple ribs. She had the pimp’s name “Dick Capone” tattoed on her face, as did multiple women housed by Burt, police said.

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