Received late Tuesday night from a reader who asked to remain anonymous:

(Tuesday) morning, 6/4/24, at around 5:20 am I was driving up Jacobsen Rd coming from Beach Dr SW when two vehicles attempted to box me in. The black SUV in front of me backed up and tried to use their vehicle to block me and the blue Chevrolet Avalanche sped up close to me. I was able to go around the black SUV, but then the blue pickup truck sped up to follow closely behind, I thought they were going to attempt hit my SUV. Both vehicles continued to follow me at a high speed as I was on the phone with 911, I was also honking my horn continuously in hopes to have someone witness/help. I was able to drive up behind a Rivian truck that was also out early in the morning and after that both vehicles turned into another street as we approached 49th ST; I continued to follow the Rivian truck as I was so scared they would come back and being so early there weren’t any other cars out. I probably scared the owner of the Rivian, but I don’t know what would have happened if they weren’t also on the road this morning – so very thankful for them.

I believe they were attempting to carjack my SUV, as I have a fairly newer vehicle. Just wanted to share this as Jacobsen Rd is a little isolated in the mornings and sometimes cell service can be spotty.

Two Crime Watch reports:

(WSB photo, Sunday morning)

ALKI BREAK-IN SUSPECT CHARGED: The man arrested last Sunday allegedly trying to break into an Alki residence is now charged. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged 47-year-old Sergey Y. Maslov of Puyallup with attempted first-degree burglary. The charging documents confirm what commenters said that day – that the victim is a police officer, off-duty at the time this happened. Prosecutors say he called 911 saying the suspect was armed with a knife, trying to break into his residence, and threatening to kill him – a threat that the calltaker heard during the 911 call. Arriving officers are reported to have found the resident and the suspect in the back yard. Maslov is reported to have told officers, after his arrest, that he was looking for a pump for his bicycle – and he asked them to retrieve a laptop he was charging in the building’s laundry room. The victim told investigating officers that while he was armed with his service revolver, he never pointed it at Maslov, though he said he did identify himself as a police officer at one point. The charging documents say Maslov has no history of felony convictions but has theft, trespass, obstruction, and drug charges “pending.” He remains in the King County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. There is no mention in these documents of the other cases possibly linked to Maslov, noted in our previous followup – except a mention that the officer whose home he allegedly tried to break into had been among those responding to a similar Admiral incident a day earlier in which Maslov is suspected.

UPPER MORGAN BACKPACK THEFT: Jessica hopes you can watch for this, in case it turns up tossed aside somewhere:

My son’s school backpack was taken from my car this morning. It had his Highline school laptop in it. I don’t think he’s ever left it in the car, and I usually double check that I’ve locked the doors before I go to bed. It must have been the perfect storm of mistakes. It’s gray and from CabinZero and had a bunch of Spanish homework in it.

Here’s a stock photo of a similar backpack.

The shoes and knee sleeves in this photo are among the powerlifting equipment stolen in a car break-in in Highland Park – here’s the reader report, via email:

May 29th: Car broken into at Overlook Apartments on SW Kenyon St/Highland Park area. Large black duffel bag was taken that contained powerlifting equipment, including

-red/yellow ASICS wrestling shoes
-red leather belt,
-white/blue Adidas weightlifting shoes
-black knee sleeves
-black competition singlet (women’s)

Black bag has “Dragon” embroidered on one end and “Bull Power Team” on the side, and a bull logo on both sides. Hoping the burglar ditched the bag somewhere in the neighborhood: if found, please contact at 206-313-8854.

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports:

BURGLARY-ARREST FOLLOWUP: The 47-year-old Puyallup man arrested in Alki on Sunday morning waived his right to appear in court today, so a decision on bail hasn’t been made yet. Meantime, as noted today in an update on our original story, SPD Blotter has posted a few additional details, and we have obtained the probable-cause court document, which includes this narrative:

At the above date and time, officers responded to the duplex residence located at —- 57 Av SW for a reported “in progress” occupied residential burglary.

The suspect was reported to be armed with a knife by (the resident). Officers responded forthwith and located (suspect) in the back yard of (the resident)’s house. (The suspect) was arrested without incident. I then interviewed (the resident), and he described the following series of events. At about 0900 hours, (the resident) was awakened by a “banging” sound outside his house. (The resident) stated that this noise was loud enough for him to hear it over the earplugs he wears to sleep.

(The resident) heard some additional banging and what sounded like footsteps in the yard over the next 15 or so minutes. (the resident) stated that at first he thought it was his landlord doing some work. (the resident) then heard a strange scraping noise at his home’s back door. (the resident) opened the door and saw (the suspect) standing there with a fixed blade knife in his hand. During my investigation, I noted fresh damage to the door that is likely from (the suspect). (the resident) told (the suspect) to leave and (the suspect) raised the knife — pointing it at (the resident). (the resident) slammed the door and called 911. (the resident) armed himself with a firearm, and circled around the house to attempt to detain (the suspect). (the suspect) threatened to kill (the resident) when ordered to get on the ground and drop the knife. The 911 call taker could hear this threat over the phone call. (the suspect) stored the fixed blade knife on his bike and ignored (the resident) until officers arrived. (the suspect) was advised of his Miranda rights and he stated understood.

The probable cause document also notes that law enforcement objects to the suspect’s release because he allegedly “committed two occupied residential burglaries within 12 hours (and) is the suspect in 8 other criminal cases with the Seattle Police Department including Harassment, Residential Burglary, and Robbery.” Incident numbers are mentioned for those last three, and while we don’t have access to the reports, we did cross-reference the numbers to the Twitter/X call log and they are all West Seattle cases – one is the previously mentioned Saturday burglary on Walnut Ave., and the other two are Junction incidents that happened on January 9th.

Also in Crime Watch:

HIT-RUN WITNESSES SOUGHT: One reader report – Beth‘s looking for witnesses in a hit-run:

At 8:00 am on May 27th, I opened my front door to find a note from a next-door neighbor that had heard a car hitting my car at 11:50 pm on the 26th. My parked car was in front of my house near the corner of 51st pl sw and sw Edmunds. They said the crash was very loud so they left their house immediately to investigate. When my neighbor got outside, they viewed several very drunk-looking teens spilling out of a GMC Yukon (plate WA #BWV—-) which was parking only two cars up from mine on 51st pl. My neighbor said that one teen came over to look at my car and then walked back to the other teens My neighbor said that there were other teens arriving over the next 20 min on bikes, scooters and in cars and the teens were crowding around the corner of 51st pl and Edmunds. There ended up being a group of about 20 teens in all. Then the teens proceeded north up the hill on 51st pl to what the witness thought might be a party at a house that has seemed to have teen parties in the past but they were not sure where the teens’ destination was. The van that hit my car was gone in the morning. My car didn’t sustain much body damage but the van managed to break/bend my wheel/axel or something because I can’t move my wheels and my power steering indicator is flashing so the car must’ve hit mine very hard.

Additionally, in (the photo above), you can see that their back passenger side mud flap got ripped off their car when it hit mine and fell off right by my wheel well. Any additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Beth has filed a police report including the full plate number seen by her neighbor. The temporary number was M0322433; we’ll add the permanent number when available.

(Victim’s photo, as displayed at April 27 vigil)

2:02 PM: The man initially accused in the hit-run death of 81-year-old Tommy Joe Garrett, then released when a judge disagreed with prosecutors’ charging proposal, has been charged after all. Thanks to commenter K for the tip; the King County Jail roster shows 37-year-old Isaiah L. Cooper of Puyallup has been in custody since last Thursday, after the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed a charge of felony hit-and-run two days before that – the day after he was released from jail. The jail docket indicates Cooper’s bail is set at half a million dollars. We’ll add details from the charging documents later.

4:00 PM: The charging document suggests what the additional evidence might be – a warrant to uncover the car. Here’s how the document summarizes the allegation – warning that it includes a graphic description of the collision:

On Monday evening on April 22, 2024, the defendant, 37-y-o Isaiah Lewis Cooper, was driving his Jeep Compass in the White Center neighborhood of King County. He went to a McDonald’s where he is seen driving. No one is seen in the passenger seat. There is no apparent damage to the hood of the car. He is not seen responding to anyone in the rear seat. This is captured on video.

Approximately 5-minutes later, and a couple blocks from the McDonald’s, at 10:09 p.m., 82-year-old Thomas Joseph Garrett was walking in the crosswalk of SW Roxbury St and 15 Av SW. Video shows a Jeep, later identified as the defendant’s, strike Mr. Garrett. The impact caused Mr. Garrett to fly onto the hood of the defendant’s vehicle and he is carried on the defendant’s car hood for approximately three seconds. The defendant brakes, causing Mr. Garrett to roll off the hood and onto the road. The defendant then continued to drive eastbound on Roxbury, leaving Mr. Garrett abandoned in the roadway. The traffic behind the defendant comes to a stop, as bystanders halt traffic and call for help. Both law enforcement and medics attempted to perform aid on Mr. Garrett before he was transported to Harborview Hospital, where he was pronounced dead within the hour of the collision.

Based on the surveillance and eyewitness reports, investigators were able to identify the defendant in the driver’s seat at the McDonalds. The defendant’s cell data corroborates that he was within 148’ of the collision. It also showed that he went to Port Orchard on 4/24/2024. His car was later recovered from his father’s house in Port Orchard. It was covered with a tarp and the defendant’s father confirmed that the defendant dropped it off and covered it “several weeks ago.”

On May 16, 2024, law enforcement contacted the defendant. He admitted that he had been in the vicinity of the collision on 4-22-2024 and that he subsequently left his car in Port Orchard. He denied hitting anyone. The Jeep was seized with the cover still on pending a search warrant to uncover it.

The case prosecutor then goes on to write that she “received the following information” from the “primary investigating detective”:

On May 20, King County Superior Court Judge J. Bender approved a Search Warrant to uncover the suspect vehicle. According to King County Det. Skaar, the uncovering revealed damage on the hood of the car consistent with a low-speed pedestrian collision. Specifically, Det Skaar stated that he observed multiple dents along the edge of the hood up to the back edge of the hood to the right of the center line, consistent with the damage that he would expect based on the video of the pedestrian strike on 4-22-2024. The license plate, which had been properly on the front bumper of the Jeep on the night of the collision at the McDonald’s was now moved from bumper to passenger side dashboard.

We noted in a previous report that Cooper’s record was said to include “numerous driving violations”; the charging document lists them – scattered over the past 15 years – as DUI, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license, no insurance, speeding, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, driving on the wrong side of the road, and making a false statement to law enforcement, as well as Seattle Municipal Court warrants for a 2019 case alleging “no interlock” and suspended license. Cooper is scheduled for arraignment – the hearing at which a defendant enters an initial plea – next Monday, June 3.

ADDED TUESDAY: KCPAO spokesperson Casey McNerthney says this is why the first attempt to charge Cooper was rejected: “It was not clear on the initial submission that additional investigation that had to be done by police on the day of the second appearance was submitted under the penalty of perjury. It was resubmitted with that being clear, and the court approved the charges. (Courts are only allowed to consider facts submitted under the penalty of perjury.)”

Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports:

BURGLARIZED TWICE IN 5 DAYS: Thanks to neighbors for tips on this. Junction True Value managers confirmed to WSB today that the store has been burglarized twice in the past five days. The first one happened just before 2 am Wednesday; the second one happened around 3:30 am today. The store says the burglar(s) got away with about $4,000 in tools in the Wednesday break-in, fewer tools today; they suspect an organized ring might be targeting their store. Police-audio archives indicate the burglar(s) left in a stolen car found on a nearby dead-end street (Rutan Place, per a neighbor) and ran into a brushy area. Police searched but, the audio indicates, had trouble getting extra resources – no aerial resources were available, and no SPD canine, though a King County Sheriff’s Office K-9 (from Kirkland) was eventually dispatched. (Update: Archive audio indicates the search eventually ended unsuccessfully.) If you have any information, this morning’s incident # is 24-143457, while the Wednesday number is 24-138494.

DUMPED-POSSIBLY-STOLEN LICENSE PLATES: The photo and report are from Austin:

I was taking out some trash this morning and noticed some suspicious items were dumped in my can in Seaview overnight, including license plates and other items that look like they could have been from a stolen car (hats, camera cases, food trash) There was even a bleach bottle…which was extra strange.

Austin is working on reporting this to police, but in the meantime, if the plates and/or hats happen to be yours, contact us and we can connect you. (Added: A

Another round of reported gunfire has brought multiple 911 calls and a police response confirming it. This time, in an alley off the 9000 block of 17th SW. Officers have told dispatch they’ve found five shell casings so far. No injuries reported.

(Reader photo from Me-Kwa-Mooks response)

Police find stolen cars every day, in varying circumstances. Two this morning in West Seattle had similar circumstances – both were found with people asleep inside. A short time ago, one such “vehicle recovery” was a startling sight for people in the Me-Kwa-Mooks Park vicinity on Beach Drive – police moved in on the stolen vehicle with guns drawn after finding people inside (they told dispatch they had placed “Terminators” around the vehicle so those inside couldn’t try to make a getaway). Earlier, a stolen work truck was found near Delridge/Orchard; we were about to publish a Crime Watch report about it when we heard the recovery discussed on police radio, and the person who had sent us the stolen-vehicle report told us this vehicle also was found with people asleep inside. We know the truck was stolen on Puget Ridge, but otherwise, no further details in either incident yet, including whether any of the people found in the vehicles were arrested.

Almost five months ago, on Christmas Eve, we reported on a break-in at West Seattle Smoke Shop in The Junction, updated with word that a suspect had been arrested. That was the last we heard of the case until now. Earlier this week, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged the suspect, 40-year-old Eric J. Mason of Alki, with second-degree burglary and obstruction of a law-enforcement officer. (At right is an arrest-night photo from charging documents.) The KCPAO notes the case was not sent to them by police until last week; they filed the charges Monday. As we noted on the night of the break-in, police found the suspect after he showed up at a Morgan Junction business with suspiciously bloody hands, allegedly from breaking glass to get into the Smoke Shop, from which he is accused of stealing about $1,500 in merchandise. Court documents say the obstruction charge is because he tried to run from officers that night. According to the jail register, Mason spent four days in custody. He has been back in jail since May 13, arrested in connection with an attempted robbery in Shoreline, for which he has been charged. Documents in the West Seattle case say Mason is also under investigation for two bank robberies in Seattle (which ones, the document doesn’t specify) and that he has an “extensive multi-state criminal history.” The jail docket shows that his bail is set at $100,000.

Sent by Will on behalf of his neighbor:

They had posted their car for sale and had someone come for a test drive – and the person drove off and stole it! This happened around 4 pm yesterday on 52nd Ave by Alki. The car is a black Mercedes SUV, license BPA 2209. Any sightings would be appreciated. Police report # 24-137147.

Call 911 if you see it.

Two reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch:

STOLEN SUBARU: The report and photo were sent by Jessica:

Early Friday morning my 2018 white Subaru Crosstrek was stolen just outside my house off SW Elmgrove street and 18th Ave SW. I believe they found my hide-a-key because no glass was broken.

License plate: BKU3328
VIN: (ends in) 132
Case Number: 24-133807

There’s also a vibrant purple, pink, & orange floral Mexican tassel hanging on the front mirror, similar to the one in the attached picture.

WORK VAN BREAK-IN: Reported via text: “My partner’s work van got broken into. We think it was Friday night, because on Saturday morning a neighbor came to our apartment and told us it was. We had no idea who the man was, and why he knew where we lived, so we didn’t take it seriously at the time. But it was on 42nd and Brandon, right off California.” The thief/thieves broke a window to get into the van, which is used for an environmental-testing firm, and stole “about 50 items.”