West Seattle, Washington
12 Tuesday
No injuries were reported, but a trail of destruction was left behind by one driver along 26th SW in North Delridge late last night. This morning, you can still see not only damaged vehicles (photo below) but also where the car hit signs, from a traffic circle to a corner (above) [2:10 PM NOTE: In comments, neighbors say the traffic circle, with the bent sign in the background, bore the brunt of last night’s street damage, and the tire tracks etc. at right are from a previous crash].
One neighbor, Ruby, relates a firsthand account from her partner, who saw the whole thing:
She had just parked her car and was trying to retrieve her bag from the passenger side of the car when she heard a car coming down the street at a very high speed. (She guessed around 50 mph). She honked several times in an effort to say ‘slow down!’, and the car blew past her, launched itself over the traffic circle, wrecked into the Telecom truck, and hit a van on the opposite side of the street. She ran after the car trying to get a plate and thinking the car would eventually just stop because it had so much damage…. But it didn’t… it kept going and hit several more cars before the driver abandoned it somewhere south of the park.
A police search followed, ending with no indication of the driver having turned up (we have inquiries out again this morning to see if they ever did, and will add any information we get). Anyone who suffered damage is also urged to contact police, if they haven’t already. Ruby says they heard of at least four cars that were damaged; seven were mentioned by Chris, who tweeted about this last night.
ADDED 3:22 PM: According to Lt. Ron Smith from the Southwest Precinct, five vehicles in all have reported damage from this incident so far. He says that despite a search involving two K-9 teams, the driver and vehicle were not found, though a possible license plate was reported, so investigators are working on that.
Continuing our coverage of the murder trial in the February 2009 West Seattle shooting death of Steve Bushaw: Court is now in recess till 9 am Monday. That originally was projected as the date testimony would begin, but this case hasn’t even gotten to jury selection yet, because of an ongoing series of twists and turns among the four original defendants. Two of them have pleaded guilty in the past two weeks, but one of them may withdraw that plea when court resumes Monday. Details ahead:Read More
“Welcome to 2011!” With that, West Seattle Crime Prevention Council president Dot Beard opened last night’s meeting at the Southwest Precinct, the first WSCPC meeting in two months – and her last one as president. As the meeting began, more than 15 people were on hand, not counting three uniformed SPD reps – Lt. Pierre Davis and Community Police Team Officers Jonathan Kiehn and Ken Mazzuca – plus soon-to-retire Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow. Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen joined in time to deliver his assessment of the latest West Seattle crime trends – which included at least one surprise. That and other meeting toplines, after the jump:Read More
(WSB photos by Christopher Boffoli)>
Today officially marked the start of the second week of murder-trial proceedings in the case of the deadly West Seattle shooting two years ago of Steve Bushaw – though the case hasn’t even gone to jury selection yet, and might not for a while, depending on how things proceed. Previously, two of the four original defendants – the two accused of actually shooting Bushaw along California SW between Alaska and Edmunds late Super Bowl Sunday night in 2009 – pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of second-degree murder. Danny O’Neal entered his plea eight days ago, as proceedings began; John Sylve pleaded guilty last Friday. The other two were in court today – from left, alleged mastermind Bryce Huber and alleged getaway driver Brandon Chaney:
They remain charged with first-degree murder and with conspiracy to commit murder. After a brief session this morning, King County Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque recessed court until 1:30 this afternoon to review some of the information that had emerged; the afternoon session was even shorter, and she recessed the case until 9 tomorrow morning. While there were many twists in this morning’s open discussion involving lawyers, the prosecutor and Judge DuBuque, the most noteworthy one involved the statement given by Sylve as part of his plea agreement. It was indicated that his statement might conflict with the one that the other confessed triggerman, O’Neal, gave days earlier. And that, the prosecutor said, might change the deal to recommend the low end of the sentencing range for him. We’ll find out what’s next when court resumes tomorrow morning.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports out of the WSB inbox tonight. First one is about a truck-trailing package thief; second a quick note about an attempted break-in. Read on:Read More
Three break-in reports for West Seattle Crime Watch, plus one potential-prowler sighting that football fans might want to know about, all from the WSB inbox – read on:Read More
The first week of pre-trial motions and discussions in West Seattle’s Steve Bushaw murder case started with a guilty plea, and ended with one. Our partners at the Seattle Times report tonight that, four days after Danny O’Neal, one of two accused triggermen, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement, the other one – John Sylve – struck the same plea bargain. Here’s the Times story. This happened during what was supposed to be a recess in the case until next Tuesday; when proceedings resume then, two defendants remain – alleged mastermind Bryce Huber and alleged getaway driver Brandon Chaney, both still charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting of Bushaw outside Talarico’s in The Junction on Super Bowl Sunday night in February 2009. The documents from today’s announcement are not in the online files yet, so we don’t have full details of the latest plea agreement.
(Seattle Police investigators with the wrecked Buick on Sunday morning – rescuers had cut its top off)
Throughout the week, we’ve received notes from people living near the scene of the 47th/Charlestown crash that led to a major power outage early Sunday (original WSB coverage here), wondering how the two people in the car were doing. Though they originally were described as having life-threatening injuries, we have just learned from Harborview Medical Center that the passenger, a 31-year-old woman whose hometown is not listed in the police report, is out of the hospital. The driver, 23-year-old Mohammad Nema of Burien, is still at Harborview but is now in satisfactory condition – and he is charged with vehicular assault as well as domestic violence. According to the charging documents, the passenger was his estranged girlfriend, who had two protection orders against him linked to an assault allegation in early December. The charging papers don’t say why she was with him on Sunday morning, but they say:
… the defendant was speeding well in excess of the posted speed limit. He failed to maintain control of his car and crossed the centerline and began rotating clockwise as he skidded 133 feet. He then left the road and slammed broadside into a utility pole. The force was sufficient to break the pole which caused a power outage in the neighborhood. There was enough energy left to propel his car an additional 52 feet until the car eventually came to a stop. Both the defendant and (passenger) were unconscious. Both suffered at least fractured pelvises. …
A bottle of open, mostly empty tequila was found wedged between the defendant and his driver’s door. Blood alcohol results for him are pending. Preliminary collision reconstruction shows he was speeding at least 48 mph and that does not even take into consideration the energy to break the pole. The analysis indicates he was traveling freeway speeds when he lost control.
When Nema gets out of the hospital, he will be booked into the King County Jail, with bail set at $100,000, according to online records. Court documents say he has a record of citations and charges including driving the wrong way on a one-way street, possessing an open alcohol container in a car, speeding, and driving without liability insurance.
If you’ve long been involved with the Block Watch program in West Seattle – or know someone who has – there’s a special call out for you tonight, from the WS Blockwatch Captains’ Network, looking ahead to its next meeting – which also extends a special invitation to those wanting to say farewell to retiring Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow (here’s our Tuesday report on his impending retirement):
What’s the History of Blockwatch in West Seattle? Are you part of the history? Do you know part of the history?
When: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 6:30-8
Where: SW Precinct 2300 S.W. Webster (Delridge & Webster)
Agenda: 6:00-6:30 Socializing and networking during setup
6:30-7:00 WSBWCN news and updates, crime prevention tip of the month
7:00-8:00 History of Blockwatch in West Seattle with Benjamin Kinlow
Open forum for sharing historical information, blockwatch stories and thanking Benjamin.
8:00-8:30 Socializing & networking during teardown.Featured speaker: Retiring Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow
The topic of our January meeting is focused on the history of block watch in West Seattle. Benjamin Kinlow who has many years of experience in blockwatch will regale us with his stories of how things used to be, how they have evolved and talk about some highlights of his career. We invite everyone in West Seattle who has participated in blockwatchs over the years to come say goodbye to Benjamin, hear about the history of blockwatch and bring their blockwatch stories to share. Especially if you have stories relating to working with Benjamin and how he has helped you with your blockwatch it would be great to send him off to retirement with a few stories he might have forgotten!
We are trying to round up historical memorabilia and/or photos of blockwatch history in West Seattle that we could scan and put in a slide show so if you have something please get in touch. E-mail: wsblockwatchnet@gmail.com or call 206-424-0040 and leave a message.
That shot from a West Seattle bank robbery last April (WSB coverage here) was one of the most-discussed bank-robber photos we’ve run … as the robber’s gender seemed to be in doubt. Today, Seattle FBI spokesperson Special Agent Frederick Gutt confirms to WSB that a suspect held for a bank holdup in Kent may be the so-called “Mrs. Doubtfire” robber, suspected in a string of stickups around the region. She is a 53-year-old resident of Des Moines, arrested for robbing an Alaska USA credit union branch in Kent two days ago, according to Special Agent Gutt. We reported last September that one suspect was likely responsible for 6 heists, 3 of them in West Seattle, starting with the April 2010 KeyBank robbery in The Junction (the others are listed here), though the list has now grown to 11, according to the FBI. (Hat tip to seattlepi.com for what appears to be the 1st report on the arrest.)
(Wednesday photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Following up on Wednesday’s 44th SW incident involving two dogs shot by police responding to a domestic-violence call, we had a few questions for the Seattle Animal Shelter. Regarding the dogs’ breed, SAS director Don Jordan told WSB, “DOA dog = Lab. Injured dog = Bulldog mix. These match the licenses we have on file.” Had his officers dealt with them before? “Slight history of welfare checks, leash-law violations, and menacing behavior,” replied Jordan: “Citation for LLV + Menacing in 2008. Eight impounds between these two dogs in 2008 and 2009.” We also asked about the condition of the surviving dog. According to Jordan, it was “stabilized at West Seattle Animal Hospital then transported to (a clinic) for overnight observation. We were putting the owner in contact with (the clinic) so they could determine what they wanted to do with the dogs leg – i.e. amputation, plates/screws or ultimately euthanasia.” The newest information from police, released last night, said the dogs were “on top of” the woman they ultimately arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, and that they charged the officer who opened fire.
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:
*Monday afternoon, officers were alerted to an auto theft in progress on Pigeon Point. The thief managed to drive off at high speed northbound on 18th SW. Moments later, a citizen called 911 to report that a pickup truck had crashed through his fence in the 4800 block of 18th and that the driver had fled into a neighboring ravine. Officers were able to recover some items of clothing, as well as several tools typically used by car thieves, but they didn’t find the thief. (The K-9 trail went cold at the 4800 block of Puget Way SW.) The crashed pickup truck, registered in Wyoming, was a stolen vehicle that had been reported to Seattle Police.
*One effect of recent rains proved tempting to a man in his twenties in the area of Fauntleroy and SW Concord. He has been seen loitering, hiding in bushes, and rocking signposts in the rain-softened ground, causing them to break and tilt at angles. Description: He is white, and on Saturday, he was seen wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, had a bandana covering his lower face, and rode a razor-type scooter.
Five more summaries ahead:Read More
We’re continuing to follow the case of the four people charged with murdering 26-year-old Steve Bushaw in The Junction two years ago. On Monday, just as the trial was about to begin with pre-jury-selection proceedings, one of the two alleged triggermen, 29-year-old Danny O’Neal, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, second-degree murder. The official document from Monday’s hearing is now available, and there’s an update to O’Neal’s potential sentence: After prosecutors recommend the low end of the 123-220-month “standard range,” whatever the judge decides will have 60 months added to it for the “firearm enhancement,” meaning he faces a minimum of 15 years.
Meantime, the remaining three defendants, Bryce Huber, John Sylve, and Brandon Chaney – all still charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder – returned to court this morning. No additional plea bargains so far, prosecutor James Konat told Judge Joan DuBuque, but they are still in negotiations, and the lawyers asked for a few more days to keep talking. The judge gave them until Tuesday morning, which is when the pretrial proceedings will resume if there is no resolution to the case this week (next Monday is a holiday). It’s alleged that O’Neal and Sylve shot Bushaw after talking with Huber, who met up with him at Talarico’s that night and went outside with him just before the shooting; Chaney is the alleged getaway-car driver. The motive: Huber allegedly suspected Bushaw of involvement in a home-invasion robbery targeting a friend; police have said there was no evidence linking Bushaw to that case.
He’s been with the Seattle Police Department more than 30 years – and now, he’s about to leave. “I’ve been around for a while,” Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator 
Benjamin Kinlow acknowledged, understated as always, while confirming to WSB that he’s decided to retire. His is a civilian position, not investigating crimes, but rather working with the community to help their crime-prevention effort – setting up Block Watches, registering Night Out parties, briefing community groups, offering crime-prevention advice. We talked with him this afternoon by phone; he says, “I can hardly imagine life without working” – but he expects to stay busy, with two grandchildren, volunteering activities, and potentially some “private-sector” interests. He also has words of thanks for WSB’ers who’ve taken an intense interest in crime prevention and information-sharing (including our ongoing Crime Watch reports). While the department cut some coordinator positions this year, and made changes last year that added a second precinct to Kinlow’s responsibilities, he stresses it was his own decision to retire. His last day will be March 15; we are checking with precinct leadership to find out how prevention will be handled after his departure.
We are at the King County Courthouse, in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque. What was supposed to be a trial for the 4 people charged in the February 2009 murder of 26-year-old Steve Bushaw is suddenly a trial for 3: Danny O’Neal, one of the two alleged triggermen, pleaded guilty this morning. Prosecutors say he made a deal last Friday while also giving a videotaped statement about how he says it all played out. We’ll have a longer report later; in short, he says — as charged — he and John Nikimbe Sylve (known as “Nicky”) — shot Steve Bushaw, and O’Neal says that the next day, he took apart and threw away the 2 handguns that were used in the shooting. As part of the plea agreement, he is pleading guilty to second-degree murder, with a firearms enhancement, and the state will recommend the lower end of the sentencing range, at least 10 years (though the judge is not bound to honor that), plus 16 months for the firearms enhancement.
The three remaining defendants – Sylve, alleged getaway driver Brandon Chaney, and alleged mastermind Bryce Huber – were in court this afternoon, Chaney and Sylve in street clothes, Huber in a brick-red jail-issue jumpsuit. For the past hour or so, their lawyers talked with the judge, and among themselves, discussing what happens in the wake of the eleventh-hour plea: Court is in recess until at least Wednesday, while the three defendants’ lawyers review forthcoming copies of O’Neal’s new statement; their clients still have the opportunity to enter pleas rather than go to trial, and the lawyers told the judge they’ll make decisions on that by late tomorrow afternoon. Meantime, O’Neal’s sentencing is tentatively set for March 4th. (For backstory on the case, here’s the trial preview published here last night.)
ADDED MONDAY NIGHT: More details from today’s proceedings:Read More
ORIGINAL 2:40 AM REPORT: No arrests yet in a Sunday night break-in that left two people with minor injuries. It happened around 8:30 pm in the 8800 block of 16th SW (map), according to Southwest Precinct Lt. Alan Williams. He says “initial reports” indicate two people wearing ski masks and armed with handguns forced their way into a house. They kicked one person – who declined medical assistance – and hit another with one of the guns; that person was taken to a hospital to have a facial injury checked out. A third person who was home apparently scared the attackers/would-be robbers away by running out of the house to call police; that, says Lt. Williams, led the attackers to run away too. Scanner traffic we heard at the time indicated a K-9 unit was used to try to find them, but searchers didn’t have any luck. Lt. Williams says detectives from the robbery division are now handling the case.
9:31 AM UPDATE: There’s now a story about this on SPDBlotter. Details are mostly the same, with a few additions: The ski-masked robbers are described as black men between 20 and 30; they are believed to have stolen a wallet; and police are asking the public for any information.
(February 2, 2009, sign outside Talarico’s, near the shooting scene)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Almost two full years after 26-year-old Steve Bushaw was shot and killed in The Junction, four suspects are about to go on trial.
Monday is the official start of the trial for Bryce Huber, Brandon Chaney, Danny O’Neal Jr., and John Sylve, arrested in December 2009, charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. But murder trials are complicated proceedings, even more so in a case like this with multiple defendants, so jury selection won’t start for at least another week, and testimony isn’t expected before late January.
For this look ahead, in addition to revisiting the WSB archives and King County court records, we have checked in with Steve Bushaw’s family, as well as the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Two car-crime reports to share tonight. First one’s from Siobhan:
Last year on New Year’s Day morning, my little red Dodge Neon was stolen from its parking spot under my apartment building. Got it back on January 6th, which just happened to also be my birthday. THIS January 6th, I went downstairs to go to work to find my car missing its passenger-side window, a pile of glass on the ground, a brick on the drivers side floor and the hood of my car propped up with the the cables from my battery removed. They rummaged through my glove box and the middle console, but didn’t take anything. I never leave anything in my car.
This happened in the 35th Ave SW/Morgan St. area. I filed a police report. The officer said that they more than likely disconnected the battery to disable a car alarm and that the same thing had happened to a few other cars in the last few days just down the hill towards Fauntleroy/California. Just wanted to leave a heads-up to my neighbors.
And from Sam:
Hi, just wanted to let your blog know that last night I had two aftermarket offroad bumpers stolen. One was stolen off of my 4runner and one off my tacoma. Both vehicles were parked near Morgan junction. I’ve also had both catalytic convertors stolen from both of these vehicles in the last few months. Getting sick of it. Keep an eye out if you live in the area. Also if anyone sees two black tube bumpers for sale please contact the police.
Followup on the two incidents we were following late last night/early this morning: Police confirm the Beach Drive search was indeed the result of an interrupted car-prowl incident. Around 9:30 last night, in the 5400 block of Beach Drive (map), a vehicle owner looked outside his window and saw the vehicle doors open, then went outside and confronted a suspect, who displayed “a large knife.” Police say they stopped a possible suspect at one point during their extensive search, but the owner couldn’t confirm that was the would-be car prowler. Meantime, as for the Fairmount area shots-fired call, police did not find any damage or other evidence that it was definitely gunshots.
We’re at the King County Courthouse, where 59-year-old Thomas Qualls – the Alki resident accused of firing an assault rifle September 3rd at police who subsequently shot him (original WSB coverage here) – made a brief appearance this afternoon. It was meant to be an update on whether he would enter a plea or proceed to trial. He pleaded not guilty September 22nd to three counts of second-degree assault, with firearms enhancement. Lawyers told the judge today that they are still awaiting key reports, so a decision on what’s next is now pushed back a few more weeks. When last we saw Qualls in the same courtroom three months ago (WSB coverage here), he was in a wheelchair, as he recovered from a gunshot wound to the abdomen; today, Qualls was standing, with the assistance of a walker. He’s been in jail since leaving the hospital five days after the incident, held in lieu of $1 million bail. The proceedings today included a mention of “negotiations,” so it appears a plea bargain is still a possibility.
Seattle Public Schools is in the midst of cleaning up a particularly prolific outbreak of tagging on the boarded-up ex-Boren Junior High School building (5950 Delridge Way), vacant after two years of serving as interim home to Chief Sealth International High School. Some had worried the building would become especially attractive to spray-paint vandals once boards went up over the Boren windows three months ago (WSB coverage here). Delridge-area advocate Pete Spalding noticed the many tags on the building over the holiday weekend and called it to the district’s attention. We took a partial “before” photo of just one of the many tagged areas (tags mostly blurred, as per our editorial policy) before it was covered up on Monday:
One issue that arose before the cleanup: If you see something like this — or any other maintenance problem/damage at a vacant school building, where neighbors will likely be the first to notice – how do you report it? ? Seattle Public Schools spokesperson Tom Redman provides this phone number: 206-252-0550. (He also says that the initial covering-over of the tagging vandalism was just the first phase; the boards will be painted over, too.)
Checking court files early today for West Seattle crime cases carrying over into the new year, we discovered something that so far as we can tell, has not been reported yet, though it happened three weeks ago: One of the two suspects in last May’s Highland Park beating/hate-crime case has pleaded guilty.
Court records show that 23-year-old Ahmed Y. Mohamed pleaded guilty December 13th to both of the charges filed against him and 21-year-old co-defendant Jonathan Baquiring – one count of robbery and one count of malicious harassment. If you don’t recall the backstory – a bloodied, dazed 15-year-old found near 17th/Kenyon (map) the morning of May 25th told police he had been beaten, burned and robbed at the 14th/Holden (map) staircase by two “black and Filipino” men who repeatedly made remarks about his race (white). In his plea documents, Mohamed acknowledges that was the motive, writing:
… I maliciously and intentionally, because of my perception of his race, caused physical injury …
Mohamed also admits to robbing the victim:
… by stealing items from his pockets while threatening to cap him, whipping him with his belt, and burning him with cigarettes. We also displayed a knife with a several-inch blade, held it to his neck, and threatened to cut his throat. We targeted [the victim] because he was a different race than we are.
Police found Mohamed and Baquiring nearby that same morning and questioned but did not arrest them. They did get DNA samples, and almost four months later, after those samples were matched to other evidence in the case, charges were filed on September 20th. Baquiring was arrested the next night, as reported here; Mohamed, not until October 11th; both have been in jail ever since.
The plea agreement document in Mohamed’s case notes that all parties agree there was “different criminal intent” between the two crimes – robbery with use of a deadly weapon (the knife) and malicious harassment (hate crime). Mohamed, who has no felony record, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. But according to the plea-agreement documents, prosecutors plan to recommend 4 years in prison for the robbery count and 1 year for malicious harassment, to be served concurrently (update: plus 24 months for the weapons enhancement – because of the knife – on the robbery count; see comments). His sentencing hearing is set for January 21st. Court records for co-defendant Baquiring indicate that so far, he is proceeding toward trial one month after that, in late February.
It happened shortly after midnight last night, but the scanner was so busy, we heard no followup; tonight, police confirm that Papa John’s Pizza in West Seattle was indeed robbed again. Southwest Precinct Lt. Alan Williams says, “One male suspect entered, displayed a handgun, and demanded money. The suspect was wearing all black clothing with a black beanie cap and a black mask.” He got cash and took off. No one was hurt; no injuries reported. The restaurant at 5252 California SW was also robbed three months ago (WSB coverage here).
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