West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
(WSB photo from June 1st @ Denny)
Two weeks after Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole visited Denny International Middle School and heard students request more help from police in staying safe (WSB coverage here), members of her department followed up to start making good on that promise. Southwest/South Precincts Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon shares these notes of what happened when they visited the Denny/Sealth campus this past Monday, one day before the last day of school, particularly to lay the groundwork for a safer start next fall:
* SPD Reps met up with students and staff at 12:40 at classroom
* Walked SW Kenyon Street between 2600 Block and Delridge SW
* Walked from Kenyon & Delridge to Holden & Delridge; observed Holden Stairs; returned to Denny via same route
* Mark drove routes between Denny/Sealth Campus and Westwood Village to observe areas about which students expressed concerns.
* SPD Officers spoke with students about ways to minimize their chances for victimization (Robbery/Assault)
* Discussed the possibility of SPD officers getting together with students at the beginning of the school year to discuss safety measures; being proactive and focus on prevention vs. being reactionary.
Measures in Progress
* Mark will work with Youth Ambassadors and Denny Staff through the summer to engage surrounding neighbors to form Block Watch groups with have Denny/Sealth student safety as a prime focus.
* Mark will facilitate communication between the Youth Ambassadors Program and The Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative regarding the Safe Passages Program (a group of adult volunteers who provide a presence in the Rainier Beach community between the 1400-1800 hrs on school days to deter youth violence and disorder). The goal is to try to implement this program for the Denny/Sealth campus area by the fall of 2015.
Recommendations
* Raise tree canopy on SW Kenyon Street Between 2400 – 2600 Blocks. Tree canopy should be no lower than 8′ to ensure good lines of sight for pedestrians transiting SW Kenyon ST.
* Request SDOT conduct additional vegetation clearing at dead end of SW Kenyon ST & 24th Ave SW.
* Request SDOT conduct vegetation clearing along trail/walkway/bridge over creek between Delridge WY SW & 24th Ave SW along SW Kenyon Street (Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail).
* Request additional vegetation clearing be done on the Holden Stairs, between Delridge WY SY & 20th Ave SW. (possible return of the goat herd?)
* Request vegetation clearing along the non-through streets of 26th Ave SW, 25th Ave SW and the North/South Alley that runs parallel between those two streets, between SW Thistle Street and SW Trenton ST. Students use these corridors to transit anyway; let’s open them up to reduce cover and concealment.
* SPD conduct student safety assembly at the beginning of the 2015-16 school year.
The reader reports in this West Seattle Crime Watch report include some good news. But first, a new theft:
STOLEN BIKE: That bicycle was stolen from a garage in the 4500 block of SW Henderson (map) on Tuesday morning between 6:30 and 7:30 am. A police report is filed; please call 911 if you see it.
FOUND TRUCK: Last Friday, we published this reader report about a stolen red pickup truck. That helped its owners get it back, and they e-mailed this update late last night:
We couldn’t be more excited to report that our Red Ford F-150 XLT pick up was recovered late (Tuesday) afternoon in West Seattle.
Further, we directly attribute the successful return of our vehicle to two things:
1. The West Seattle Blog – The SPD officers specifically called out the West Seattle Blog, how they had remembered seeing the photo of our truck and description on the blog. We feel so fortunate that the blog, its staff, and the community responded so quickly and got the word out. It is so awesome to have such an incredible resource, for all types of information, in West Seattle.
2. SPD – West Seattle – We couldn’t be more proud to have met a handful of these guys today. After talking with them for over an hour, we certainly feel we’re lucky to have these guys looking out for us. And they do, every day, even when when they’re off the clock. They have our deepest appreciation and heartfelt thanks.
Johnny and Kalynn
STOLEN PURSE RETURNED: We also published word last Friday of a purse theft, and have an update from the purse’s owner: “it was returned anonymously; the ID and important papers were all in it.”
THEFT/TRESPASSING: Another reader report details an incident that started with a man parking on the street by her residence in the 2100 block of SW Holden on Monday and emptying items of “his very packed car onto my parking strip. It’s clear he is living in the vehicle. When I got home from work around 6 pm my housemate informed me that he saw some of my possessions in his car. The man had gone onto my property and stolen metal yard art from my flower garden. I called 911 while my housemate and neighbor confronted the man. He admitted to trespassing and stealing and explained it was an accident and after some time returned one item. I suspect he had more items, but I felt too intimidated to confront him further and didn’t want to spend time outside inventorying because he proceeded to shout and scream he would shoot anyone who messed with his family. He then took the paper items strewn about and shoved them into the grill and wheel wells of a Car2Go vehicle across the street. He settled down around 9:30 pm.” She says police finally came to check it out Tuesday morning; as of Tuesday afternoon, the man and his car were still there, and she wanted to alert people in the area to call 911 if they see an intruder on their property.
We heard police dispatch to a report of a purse theft on Pigeon Point tonight – didn’t hear the circumstances, but this reader report has since come in:
We (were) at Pathfinder School 8th grade graduation; my cousin had a emergency call to make, she left her purse on her seat, and she came back. it was gone – not even a few minutes. It’s a pink Michael Kors purse, has all her ID, passport, and all her important information. Today 6-8 pm. We didn’t see who took it; we called police, let the principal know; she had a sick family member (who) had a seizure and needed to take the call. If someone knows who took it, please return it – thanks.
Or, if you find it discarded somewhere – let police know.
From Johnny and Kalynn on SW Austin in Gatewood:
We woke up this morning and our truck had been stolen. It’s a Red 1994 Ford F150 XLT. The license place is C89822C. Only the back license plate is on. The front has no plate. If anyone has seen it, we would really like to get it back.
If you see it – as SPD advises, call 911.
9:03 AM: Police and fire are responding to an address in the 1900 block of 48th SW. The early report indicates someone might have a stab wound. More info to come.
9:06 AM: We’re headed that way, but in the meantime, information via scanner says this might not be a stab wound, but rather some other type of assault. They’re canceling most of the units.
9:23 AM: Our crew talked with a neighbor who says this started with someone suspected of prowling cars near 48th/Hill; construction workers in the area tried to stop that person. (update) Someone was injured in the course of this, and has been taken to the hospital – we’re hearing conflicting unofficial reports at the scene, trying to sort it out.
11:26 AM: Seattle Fire spokesperson Kyle Moore tells us a 57-year-old man was treated for a “minor bite wound” at the scene but declined transport to the hospital. We’re following up with SPD and will add whatever we find out from them about the hopefully-sorted-out-by-now circumstances.
12:35 PM: The full report isn’t in the system yet and what is in the system doesn’t clarify exactly what role in all this was played by the bite victim, according to Det. Patrick Michaud in SPD media relations. But he was able to tell us that the car-prowl suspect – who at one point was reportedly being held down by two people – was arrested. Another incident in the system indicates that, whether they’re all the work of the same person(s) or not, there were multiple car prowls reported/noticed this morning in that area of North Admiral.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 7:41 PM: Police and fire rushed to Admiral/California for an “assault with weapons” call. We’re still gathering information about what was reported.
7:49 PM: We are in the area and while SFD units are staged on California by Hiawatha and on California a block north of Admiral, we haven’t spotted police anywhere.
(WSB photos by Christopher Boffoli)
8:02 PM: Police and fire are now in the Admiral Safeway parking lot. The assault happened somewhere else and the victim showed up here. Responders are trying to sort it out. The victim will be taken to the hospital with a leg injury, we are hearing.
8:15 PM: The victim is female and her wound isn’t major, WSB’s Christopher Boffoli has learned. She was in the passenger seat, a man was driving, and a boy was in the backseat. Police are searching their car to see if they can find a bullet or shell casing.
8:41 PM: Adding photos, including a bullet hole in the car. Christopher says police at the scene will not confirm where this happened; when our Patrick Sand talked to firefighters before police arrived at the scene, they said the initial report had been that it happened under the West Seattle Bridge.
8:59 PM: Christopher has just talked again to police. They now say this is a suspected road-rage incident; the victims’ car apparently cut off a black sedan while westbound on Spokane near the 5-way intersection when someone in the sedan fired two shots into the victims’ car. Police have found two bullets, either 9mm or .380. The victims told police they followed the shooter’s car for a ways up Admiral but a 911 operator told them to stop. So far the only description of the people in the black sedan are black male driver and white female passenger.
9:09 PM: And just a moment ago, SPD Blotter published its own report. They say the 46-year-old woman in the passenger seat was unhurt; that is a change from the early reports, but sometimes information does evolve in situations like this. If you know anything about what happened or the person who fired at the victims’ car, call 911.
9:31 PM: Christopher elaborates that the woman *was* grazed by a bullet but it was such a minor wound that a band-aid took care of it. Very close call – he reports the bullet that went through her door was found on the console next to her seat.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports.
First, what’s NOT in that photo is the subject of this stolen-car report from Scott:
Stolen between 12:30 AM & 8:00 AM Tuesday from this spot in front of our home at Holden & Holden Place: 2011 silver Honda Fit with Texas plates. Belongs to a young man serving our church as an intern who is living with us. Car is frequently parked in this spot and never had any trouble before. Note large sodium light on corner of the house.
It’s been reported to police. So has this next incident; Dan says a hit-and-run driver did this damage:
We live on 26th Ave SW near Roxbury. About 3:15 AM (Monday) our car parked on the street was hit; the driver took off. They left some of their car behind.
Police subsequently seized the biggest piece – a headlight – as evidence, Dan says. If you have any tips, let them know.
P.S. Next Tuesday is the final West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting before a couple months of summer break. If you have crime concerns and/or questions for police – be there, 7 pm, Tuesday, June 16th, Southwest Precinct meeting room, which is right off the parking lot on Webster, west of Delridge, just east of the south side of Home Depot.
(WSB photos taken between 5 & 5:30 pm)
5:11 PM: Police are searching for a suspect on the north end of The Junction, not sure yet why. Updates shortly.
5:22 PM: The suspect police are looking for is someone wanted on a warrant. They were apparently trailing him near California/Dakota when he bolted.
5:31 PM: Helicopter has headed south. Our crew is out trying to find out more from SPD on the ground.
5:35 PM: Police tell us one person is in custody, found by a K9, another still on the loose.
5:43 PM: Another officer we asked said this involves felony theft warrants. And no, we have no description at all of the person being sought.
7:55 PM: Someone asked us if the search is still active; no, it was wrapping up two hours ago as we left The Junction. The post-search Guardian One tweet says the same thing police told us – it started as police tried to arrest someone for whom they had a warrant. The one arrest happened close to where the search started, in the California/Dakota area.
9:01 PM UPDATE: We checked with Lt. Alan Williams at the Southwest Precinct to see if the second suspect had ever been found; he confirms BOTH suspects are now in custody.
In West Seattle Crime Watch tonight:
ALKI ROBBERY REPORTS: No details on these yet – weekend information is almost impossible to get from SPD and we haven’t heard directly from anyone involved – but two street robberies have been reported in Alki in the past two nights, according to SPD auto-tweets: Just before 9 tonight in the 2700 block of Alki (which might explain the sirens we’ve been asked about by several people – until now, we’d only heard of a medic response in the area too, don’t know if it was related), and one around 10 last night in the 5800 block of SW Lander (near Whale Tail Park). We’ll be pursuing the reports tomorrow.
ALSO IN ALKI – STOLEN BICYCLE: A silver Specialized #24 bicycle was stolen from Alki Elementary earlier this evening, according to a text from its owner’s parent, who described the thief as “teenager, skinny, buzz cut, white male.” If you see one abandoned, please let police know, and comment here.
THEFT AT WESTWOOD TARGET: Just in from Mary, via e-mail:
I know this is a long shot, but this morning I was shopping at Target at Westwood and while my back was turned, someone took my rectangular lime green purse/wallet out of my cart. My keys were attached to it, on a purple carabiner clip, with a Lego R2D2 keychain and a Lego Darth Vader keychain. I was left with no way to pay for my groceries and no way to get into my car to get home!
All the cards in it have been cancelled (as far as I know) and there is nothing of much value there, but if someone should flip through it and then throw it on the ground somewhere at Westwood or in the area, it would bring me a great deal of peace of mind to have whatever’s left of it back – especially my keys, since the keys were attached to my purse and ID, I’m going to have to change the locks at my house, and I don’t even know what to do about my cars, which will remain parked at the address that is easily accessible from my purse. I think it will be days before I can sleep at night.
Please let police know *and* comment here if you’ve seen what Mary’s missing.
Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports:
ADMIRAL GUNFIRE: What sounded like gunshots just before midnight last night in the 2600 block of 45th SW (map) did turn out to be gunshots – but neighbors didn’t know for about 18 hours.
A neighbor who heard them texted us after calling police. Via scanner, we heard officers dispatched to check them out, but heard nothing more, until seeing an SPD auto-tweet this afternoon mentioning “property damage” in that same block. We texted our original tipster to ask if they’d ever found evidence of gunshots. She went out to check – and discovered shell casings had turned up in the street. We were in the area so we stopped by the neighborhood to photograph the shell casings in the street and planting strip as neighbors waited for police to return. Turned out, they told us, the “property damage” was a shot-out car window down the block (no photo, as we couldn’t find it), close to the far southwestern corner of the back playground at Lafayette Elementary. Silver lining to the non-silver bullets: Neighbors who hadn’t met before were out in the street getting acquainted.
UPDATE: We have since heard from the owner of the car window hit by a bullet, who sent this photo:
While the windshield wasn’t technically “shot out,” they pointed out, it still has to be replaced.
(back to original report) 18TH/BARTON ROBBERY: Also early this morning, an e-mail question came in about a SPD tweet logged as “armed street robbery” on Thursday evening in the same area that was the topic of a discussion by neighbors and police at a community-council meeting this week. We hadn’t heard anything about it at the time but have since procured the report from SPD. The robbery was reported to have happened around 4:15 pm; officers finally found the victim a few blocks from the scene around 5:30 pm and reported that he seemed intoxicated and did not want to file a report. Nonetheless, they wrote one from what few details he had given – that two people described only as “Hispanic males” had held him up at knifepoint and taken a gold ring and glasses from him. They asked the victim repeatedly if he felt safe staying in the area, and said he would not answer.
CAR PROWL IN NEW GARAGE: First Crime Watch reader report since the Spruce/LA Fitness underground garage at 39th/Alaska opened recently: Jim e-mailed to say, “My Subaru Outback was broken into on Thursday evening between 8 and 8:30 pm June 4. I was on the p1 level under the new LA Fitness club in West Seattle. Two windows were broken out and a backpack stolen.”
After almost six years, the verdict is in for the killer of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton, a West Seattle High School graduate. KIRO TV reports (as do other regional news organizations) that a King County Superior Court jury has found Christopher Monfort guilty of murdering Officer Brenton, 39, in Leschi on Halloween night 2009. Monfort was also found guilty of attempted murder and arson; the latter charge is from a firebombing at a city facility downtown that damaged/destroyed vehicles including a mobile command unit that had been used in this area (and is just now finally being replaced). (added) Our partners at The Seattle Times report that a jury will next decide whether Monfort’s sentence will be life in prison, or death.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
It’s the neighborhood where West Seattle’s most-recent murder happened, the still-unsolved shooting death of Stephen Jeffries Jr. on New Year’s Eve 2013:
(WSB photo from April 2014 vigil)
It’s the neighborhood where drive-by gunfire hit at least one car during a rampage two months ago:
(WSB reader photo from April 2015)
And – as a result of those cases and more – South Delridge is a neighborhood where people are pleading for more police presence.
Residents from South Delridge made their case face-to-face with Southwest Precinct police on Tuesday night at this month’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting. While they’re not in the boundaries that semi-new council has been serving, that was part of the point – since they are not affiliated with an existing community group, their area doesn’t have its own “micro-policing plan” … yet, though WWRHAH co-chair Amanda Kay Helmick pointed out she had added it as a priority in theirs.
More than two dozen people were in the upstairs meeting room at Southwest Library as neighbors told their stories and heard what police and other city representatives can and can’t do.
(From left, CPT Officers Kiehn and Flores, City Attorney’s Office liaison York, CPT Officer Nicholson)
SPD had four reps, including Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis and three of his four Community Police Team members, Officers Jon Flores, Jonathan Kiehn, and Erin Nicholson. Also there: Matthew York, SW and South Precincts’ liaison from the City Attorney’s Office, plus a representative from the city Department of Planning and Development.
Helmick opened by introducing a resident who brought a list of eight properties that he described as problematic for the neighborhood, with problems from squatters to drug use, and worse.
Three West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports this morning:
ANYBODY MISSING THAT CAR? M says it was abandoned “in the alley between 32nd & 34th St SW and Henderson and Barton. Black 4-door Toyota… I’ve reported it etc, but in case anyone is missing their car and reading the blog…”
BREAK-IN REPORTED: Taylor says this happened sometime between 8:30 pm and 11 pm on Tuesday night near 45th and Dakota. When a resident came home, the front door was “wide open and our living room trashed … (a) bedroom door had been kicked in, clothes thrown everywhere, jewelry boxes on the floor empty change jars thrown around.” Police took two items for prints but found no sign of forced entry; later, Taylor found spots of “bent and messed up” grass in the yard, suggesting three suspects, and then “footprints in our garden windows,” and a 3-prong garden tool turned up on a bed. The burglars did not steal any electronics but did know the difference between costume and real jewelry and left the former behind, too. Taylor concludes, “I just felt like we should inform you that these people are in our neighborhood and that they are dangerous and to look out for any suspicious people and keep the kids and all others safe.”
SCAM CALL: The “IRS lawsuit” scam call continues making the rounds. David is the latest to report it: “Just a quick note to inform you that I got the ‘IRS Lawsuit’ phone scam call this morning at 6:15am. It was a robocall instructing me to phone an area code 360 number. Unfortunately, I did not get the entire number.” It was also reported in the WSB Forums earlier this week. Here’s the official IRS scam-info page, with alerts and advice.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes this morning:
PARKGOER’S WARNING: Police were in Highland Park Tuesday afternoon looking for what was dispatched as a man asking women for hugs. Then overnight, a reader e-mailed us to say that the man “groped” her while she was at Westcrest Park playing with her child “and attending to the garden.” She added, “This same man also appeared at the park next to the Highland Park Elementary playground, which I happened to be at after the P Patch. I informed the other parents and then called the Police.” She says he is known to him, is developmentally disabled, and apparently “tends to run away from his foster parents and go to the parks where he asks for hugs from girls. If you ever see him, he is about 6’3″ about late teens with blondish hair, call the police and let them know.”
HAMMOCK CHAIR THEFT: Also in Highland Park, a case of chair theft:
Our hammock chairs were stolen off our front patio Monday morning between 5:30 and 8 am. We live on the corner of 11th and Holden Street. Chairs are rare (made in Hawaii, available only [online]) and we have never seen anything like them. Any and all help relocating them is much appreciated.
Please call police if you’ve seen them.
2:05 PM: While we haven’t been able to get full details from Seattle Police yet, we wanted to tell you what we do know about this, given where it happened: SPD is investigating a strong-arm street robbery reported just before 10 this morning at California/Hanford [map]. The robber took the victim’s backpack. While the location is just south of West Seattle High School, we do NOT know if the victim was, or was not, a student; because the report isn’t in the system yet, SPD media relations didn’t have access to details such as the victim’s age. The only descriptive information in the system so far regarding the robber is: A Hispanic man in his 30s, 6 feet tall, wearing jeans. When we find out more, we’ll add it here.
4:09 PM: SPD has added one more detail so far – the victim is a 13-year-old girl.
One reader report in West Seattle Crime Watch this morning, plus three incidents found on the tweeted police log:
CAR PROWL: Reported via text (206-293-6302 any time) this morning:
Sometime between 10pm and 5am our car was broken into while parked in our driveway. We are on 47th and Myrtle [map]. Everything was rummaged through but it is not clear if anything was actually taken. Fuse box was ripped out.
We checked Tweets by Beat – which shows address, type of incident, and time – and found only one other car-prowl report for the past 24 hours in West Seattle: 2200 block of SW Andover in North Delridge, reported at mid-afternoon Monday.
BURGLARY REPORTS: No reader reports so far today (editor@westseattleblog.com); two are shown on Tweets by Beat from the past 24 hours in West Seattle: One reported last night, 3700 block of SW Trenton [map] in Upper Fauntleroy; one reported Monday afternoon, 9600 block of Fauntleroy Way SW in Brace Point [map].
ONE MORE REMINDER: Crime concerns in Westwood/Roxhill/South Delridge? Be at WWRHAH tonight.
In a West Seattle Crime Watch report earlier this afternoon, we mentioned that crime will be the focus of tomorrow night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting. Since then, the person who sent the announcement, co-chair Amanda Kay Helmick, has sent a Crime Watch reader report of her own:
I had my 1980s Panasonic ladies bike stolen from my porch last night. 10 speed with Schwinn cruiser handlebars. It has a rear fender and bike rack. A light and bell on the handlebars and a clip for a basket on the front. Lots of star stickers, a Proletariat Pizza sticker and an Amanda4D1.com sticker too. It’s not worth a lot, but it’s My Bike! You know? I reported it to the police, and I’ve been driving around the ‘hood like a stalker…. the picture is from when I first got it almost 5 years ago. So BUMMED!
If you see it … let police know, and then consider commenting here as well.
RECENT BICYCLE CASES: None of these have been resolved so far as we know, so we’re mentioning them again (all three have photos too): 12-year-old boy’s silver Fuji Absolute stolen May 28th, also in Westwood; child- and adult-size bicycles found in Westwood and Highland Park respectively, published here May 20th – we suggested to the finders of the latter two that they be reported to police for pickup.
Two notes in West Seattle Crime Watch:
CAR BREAK-IN: From Yvonne:
I just wanted to report a car prowl incident that happened today in the North Admiral district off of SW Waite Street.
Today when I entered my car parked in front of our house on a residential street, I noticed that the contents of my glove box was emptied out onto the floor and my old iPhone was stolen out of my center console.
They also stole a Quickbooks 101 book from my back seat. Nothing of real value was taken and no damage was done to my car but I wanted to alert the WS community in case anyone else experienced a car break in/theft/prowl last night or this morning.
She filed a police report – which SPD urges, even if “nothing of real value” (or nothing at all) was stolen. You can even file online by going here.
CRIME CONCERNS IN SOUTH WEST SEATTLE? Be at the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting tomorrow night. From co-chair Amanda Kay Helmick:
Please join us as we welcome Seattle Police, Department of Planning and Development and the City Attorney’s Office to discuss crime in the Westwood/Roxhill/Delridge Triangle area. We have been working with SPD for over three years on theft, drug use/dealing, prostitution, squatting, assault, and gun violence. Our area needs an update on what is being done to address our challenges. No formal agenda – all are welcome.
WWRHAH’s meeting runs 6:15-7:45 pm Tuesday at Southwest Branch Library (35th/Henderson).
Thanks to the tipsters who messaged us this morning with word that passers-by had spotted broken glass and signs of a break-in at Café Osita in Sunrise Heights. They had alerted police but were worried the owner might not know. We went over to the shop at 7349 35th SW and found out owner Andrea had already been alerted by the building manager; the shop indeed had been burglarized, and the laundromat next door had been broken into recently as well. Café Osita isn’t usually open on Sunday anyway; Andrea and her husband are cleaning up the aftermath and told us the shop will be open tomorrow as usual. They estimate the damage and losses will total at least $500.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch notes this morning:
STOLEN BICYCLE: From JC:
My 12-year-old son’s bike was stolen from the Seattle Public Library on 35th and Henderson. The bike is a Silver Fuji Absolute. It has an aftermarket rack on the back and a new gel seat. The bike was stolen May 28th before 4:30 pm. We are offering a $100 reward.
This has been reported to police via the online system, but the incident # isn’t available yet; you can reach JC at 206-261-2410.
OVERNIGHT HELICOPTER: Guardian One was in West Seattle briefly around 1:15 am; the crew tweeted later that they were helping SPD with a car-prowling incident “off Delridge Way,” no block specified.
Two notes in West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon:
(WSB photo from Wednesday afternoon)
SCOOTER-THEFT FOLLOWUP: We know more this afternoon about the Morgan Junction arrest we reported Wednesday after police recovered a stolen scooter. Just published by SPD Blotter‘s Jonah Spangenthal-Lee:
Just 30 hours after walking out of the King County Jail – where he’d spent the last 11 days for a probation violation – a 49-year-old man crossed paths with the law once again Wednesday, when officers spotted him riding a stolen motor scooter through West Seattle.
Officers first noticed the man around 5:15 PM when they saw him pushing a black motor scooter down the sidewalk near 42nd Ave SW and SW Morgan.
Police checked the plate on the scooter and learned it was stolen, just as the man hopped on it and began driving away.
Officers pulled him over and found that not only was the scooter stolen, but its license plate had also been pilfered from another vehicle. Police impounded the scooter and booked the man into the King County Jail for investigation of auto theft.
NORTH ADMIRAL INCIDENTS: Thanks to Sherry for a reader report on two recent incidents in North Admiral – on Wednesday, “Attempted break-in between 7 am and 8 am through a rear patio door on 45th street. House was alarmed and went off when the door was open. Must have scared intruder off. Last week: Attempted break-in through a side patio door on Atlantic St. Homeowner was home so intruder left immediately but left the patio door open.”
(Something to report for Crime Watch? Police first – then, when you can, editor@westseattleblog.com. If it’s breaking news, text or call 206-293-6302. Thanks!)
Thanks for the tips about a heavy police presence in Morgan Junction.
When we arrived, we discovered it was actually related to two incidents – both involving stolen vehicles. One, a car stolen from Federal Way, was found in the southeast end of the West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) parking lot, off 42nd SW south of SW Morgan; police told us they were investigating the possibility it had been linked to mail-theft incidents.
Not even half a block south on 42nd, a stolen motor scooter was found, and one person was taken into custody. Both discoveries came from tips, we were told.
(UPDATED WEDNESDAY MORNING with police report details)
8:15 PM: If you’re noticing Seattle Police heading toward/into Lincoln Park, here’s what’s happening, according to what we’ve heard via scanner so far: Someone called 911 to report a man tried to grab her in the park. The description made public so far is a “Hispanic male, about 18 … white T-shirt, blue gym shorts.” (added) Also: “Thin, about 5’6″, no facial hair.” If you saw anything or have any information, call 911.
8:59 PM: A parkgoer says in comments that the victim told her it happened “on the trail going up from the beach near the pool.”
ADDED 9:34 AM WEDNESDAY: Just obtained from SPD, the narrative from the report, with the victim’s name redacted by SPD (replaced by us with “she” or “her” or “the victim”):
At 2017 hours I responded to a report of an assault with a sexual motive at … Lincoln Park. (The victim) had called 911 to report that an unknown male had grabbed her “butt” while she was walking through the park.
I made contact with (her) on the western side of the park which runs along the Puget Sound. The park has two levels. The lower western side of the park runs along the Puget Sound; the higher eastern side of the park is accessible through several sets of trails and staircases along the interior of the park.
(She) said that she comes to the park every other day to exercise. Tonight,(she) entered the park near the southernmost parking lot. She began running and walking along the trails on the higher, eastern side of the park. (She) said that she had been alternating between running and walking along the trail near the ridge that separates the lower half of the park from the upper.
While (she) was walking along the trail an unknown male approached her from behind and grabbed her “butt” with his right hand. (She) said that she had never seen the male before today. She described the male as approximately 18 years old, Hispanic or possibly Pacific Islander. She said that he was wearing a white t-shirt and dark gym shorts. (She) said the suspect was thin, around 5’6″ in height. He did not have any facial hair that she could recall.
After the suspect grabbed her butt, (she) recoiled away from him. (She) said the suspect then apologized, saying something like, “Sorry, I’ve only got a month to live, I just had to do that”. (She) felt that the suspect did not understand what he did was wrong. She said that the suspect did not leave the area when she asked him what he was doing. After (she) told the suspect that she was going to call the police, he reiterated his apology.
(She) then tried to get a passerby to lend her a cell phone. She stopped a couple who was walking through the area and asked to borrow their phone to call 911. The couple refused and told (her) that she should just leave the area, and that she should not travel alone. (She) said that during this time the suspect left the area but she did not see which direction he went. (She) then walked down the hill into the lower section of the park. She was able to find someone who let her use her cell phone to call 911.
(She) was not certain but said that she might have seen the suspect in the park before he assaulted her. (The victim) believed that he might have been sitting on a bench along the path. (She) believed that he may have been following her through the park but she was not certain.
Multiple units responded to the park and searched the area in vehicles and on foot. King County Metro was notified with a description of the suspect but no one was located. Because (she) did not see the suspect enter or exit the park, his mode of transportation was not known. I provided (her) with an SPD business card with my name, serial number, and this incident number. I asked her to contact the department if she recalled any other details about the incident. I also provided (her) with a victim’s brochure and talked with her about counseling services available.
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