SEATTLE -- A man fitting the description of the serial hotel robber has been detained by Tacoma police and has been positively identified as the robber who struck at least one hotel along the Interstate 5 corridor, said Officer Mark Fulghum.

“We’re sure he’s involved with at least one of the robberies. Now we’re working on tying him to the rest,” Fulghum said.

Someone identified the suspect as the robber in a police lineup.

Police were tipped off to the man after a Crime Stoppers tip Wednesday afternoon. Police spotted the man, but he put up a fight as he was being arrested. Police used their tasers to apprehend him, Fulghum said.

The man was taken to a Tacoma hospital before he was taken to police headquarters.

The serial hotel robber struck twice Tuesday night, first hitting a Comfort Inn in Federal Way around 8 p.m., said Cathy Schrock of the Federal Way Police Department.

Surveillance video from a Comfort Inn shows the robber jumping over the counter. See Video.

Off camera, the robber assaults the female clerk and tries to force her into a back room demanding that she open the safe. The robber then fights with a male clerk who opens the cash drawer to get him off his coworker, said Federal Way police.

Schrock said the description and method of robbery matches the style of the previous eight robberies along the I-5 corridor -- a black male jumps the hotel counter, demands cash and then flees the scene, Schrock said.

In some cases, he has assaulted the clerks, which have all been women so far.

The clerk at the Comfort Inn said she thinks she saw a gun or knife in the robber’s waistband; this is the first report of a weapon being spotted.

More than an hour later at about 9:30 p.m., the man went to a Marriot Hotel on International Boulevard in SeaTac. He assaulted the clerk, jumped the counter and then fled with cash, said Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Department.

Last week, the same man entered the Shiloh Inn in the 7400 block of South Hosmer Street in Tacoma, jumped over the counter, punched the female clerk in the shoulder and fled with money from the till, Tacoma police said.

Police said a vehicle possibly involved in that robbery is described as a 1980s dark blue and silver Ford Escort with a sunroof and a hatchback.

The previous seven robberies are as follows:

11:57 p.m. Sept. 26 at La Quinta Inn, 1425 E. 27th St. in Tacoma.
10:52 p.m. Sept. 27 at Extended Stay America, 2120 S. 48th St. in Tacoma.
8:29 p.m. Sept. 28 at Best Western-Tacoma Dome, 2611 E. E St. in Tacoma.
9:05 p.m. Oct. 1 at Holiday Inn, 8601 S. Hosmer St. in Tacoma.
11:47 p.m. Oct. 2 at Quality Inn, 1400 S. 348th St. in Federal Way.
7:22 p.m. Oct. 22 at Days Inn, 6802 Tacoma Mall Blvd. in Tacoma.
8 p.m. Oct. 22 at Guest House Suites, 5805 Pacific Highway E. in Fife.

Video surveillance has captured several of the robberies including two of them on Oct. 22. The robber first struck a Days Inn on Tacoma Mall Boulevard, pushing a customer aside as he jumped a counter to confront a clerk and demand cash. See video

A short time later, the same man grabbed a clerk from behind at a Guesthouse International Inn and Suites in Fife and then forced her behind the counter and into a back room before running out the door with cash. See video

Witnesses have described the robber as a black man, 25 to 30 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall to 6 feet tall and about 200 pounds. He has black hair and has worn gloves and a black puffy jacket with fur trim during each robbery.

An alleged accomplice was arrested and charged earlier this month with driving the getaway car in five of the robberies. Kristin Schmidt pleaded not guilty to robbery charges in a Pierce county courtroom on October 7. Schmidt told investigators a man named Lamar asked her for a ride but she knew nothing about the holdups or assaults on clerks.

Police and prosecutors said Schmidt drove Lamar to the hotels, watched him don a mask and gloves, and then was paid cash for helping him escape before police arrived. Schmidt remains in jail.

Crime Stoppers of Tacoma and Pierce County is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person in the case. Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call 253-591-5959.