A repeat offender with more than 70 convictions over 40 years is accused of throwing coffee in a 2-year-old’s face. But no felony charges will be filed.
Francisco Calderon, who has a history of random attacks, allegedly threw coffee in the child’s face in downtown Seattle, said police.
Witnesses said that Calderon was causing disturbances at a Gap store and other locations before he pointed a the 2-year-old. The father of the boy and another person forced him out of the store.
Butler, of Florida, said he was visiting with his wife and three children.
“He followed a lady, and I started thinking to myself, ‘if he does something to this lady I’m going to have to step in because she’s by herself,” recalled Butler to the news outlet.
He then went up to random women and yelled, “Not your father!” He was mumbling and was exhibiting more erratic behavior, officials told KIRO7.
Then, Calderon turned around and tossed coffee in the face of Butler’s child, who was sleeping in a stroller.
“To me, I didn’t know if the coffee was boiling hot or anything,” Butler told KOMO. “All I knew is he tossed it in my kid’s face and as a father I protected my kid.”
According to KIRO7, Butler then struck Calderon six times and knocked him to the ground as he was under the impression the man would attempt to attack the boy again. He was later detained by an off-duty detective.
“I went straight for him,” the veteran added. “I hit with rights—straight to the face. I was very mindful of the situation after a couple of blows, I knew I couldn’t kill him, you know what I mean?”
A detective who was off-duty saw the altercation and detained Calderon, according to KIRO7.
“The victim did not appear to be physically injured or burned, but was not communicative and appeared to be staring off into space, possibly in shock,” according to a police report obtained by KIRO7.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office said that officials are currently “evaluating whether there is sufficient evidence to support a felony charge” and noted the office is “ethically bound to apply the facts of a particular case to the law as established by the legislature. This is regardless of the history of a particular defendant or the outrageousness of the conduct.”
“In order to elevate an assault against a child from a gross misdemeanor to a felony, there must be some level of bodily harm to the victim,” the office explained, noting that “throwing coffee on a child is horrible and abusive behavior.”
Court records show that he has 74 convictions, including 15 assaults, KOMO reported.
Anna Calderon Barnett, the suspect’s sister, said that he needs to be removed from society, saying that he has drug and mental health problems.
“To me, it’s almost like … he knows he’s not capable of taking care of himself, and he knows that he doesn’t have the mental capacity to fit in, and he just attacks people or he’ll commit some kind of a crime, because he knows the next step is ‘I’ll be taken off the street,'” she said.
“His last words to me from prison were ‘I don’t want to go back out there — I don’t know how to live,’ and he’s right. I think this is what’s being overlooked,” she explained.
