West Seattle, Washington
15 Monday
Bail is now set at half a million dollars for the 33-year-old man arrested near his High Point apartment Wednesday night (WSB coverage here), suspected of crimes including kidnapping, beating and robbing a woman who called police for help from that apartment. The suspect is not yet charged – Monday is the deadline, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office – but we have new details about the incident from the probable-cause document they provided, as well as the letter that High Point management sent to residents. Read on:Read More
(photo by Tyler, substituted at 6:47 pm for our original cameraphone photo)
In case you saw the big police response right at Walk All Ways in The Junction a little while ago – we’ve gotten a couple inquiries – here’s what police say happened: Someone “inebriated” randomly decided to lash out at one or more innocent bystanders. The “inebriated” person was subdued, and arrested. Police told us everybody’s otherwise OK. 7:39 PM UPDATE: Thanks to Lachlan for pointing us, in the comment section, to this tweet from Easy Street‘s owner, saying the suspect was kicking a dog. FRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: After a commenter wrote that someone else was arrested at the scene, we checked with the Southwest Precinct to see if any more information was available today about the circumstances. Lt. Norm James‘ summary:
Call came in about 5:45 regarding an intoxicated male pushing people at California and Alaska. Turns out an intoxicated male confronted two male victims then kicked a dog that was passing by. The intoxicated male pushed one of the two victims and chest bumped the other. Both victims were fearful of the intoxicated suspect. Officers arrived and took the suspect into custody and placed him in the back of the patrol car. The suspect began trying to kick out the windows of the patrol car and subsequently there was a taser application on the suspect to control him. The fire department aid was called to extract the taser barbs (which is standard procedure). The suspect was then booked into KC Jail.
Two and a half months after an Alki woman was beaten unconscious in Tukwila while on the job as a Metro bus driver, she e-mailed to share the news that her 15- 14-year-old attacker is pleading guilty. We first reported on her story in January after her daughter posted in the WSB Forums. Two other teenage boys were arrested and charged, not in connection with attacking the driver, but for vandalizing the bus. Court documents indicated the incident was triggered when a group of boys became enraged that the driver wouldn’t open the rear doors long enough to let them all out. After the attack, a discussion of potential driver-safety improvements began, including the question of whether barriers could be put up to protect drivers; Metro said last month that some testing would begin soon (we’re checking). Meantime, we asked the driver how she is doing:
I am still recovering and still too traumatized and fearful to return to work. I am working with a physiologist. This has been a long, slow journey. I am still getting slight symptoms from the concussion, tiredness and headaches. Physically I will carry a scar inside my lip that will probably be there the rest of my life. *I plan on making a statement at the sentencing so if anyone, especially Metro Drivers in uniform were to show up, I would greatly appreciate the support. I was debating on whether to speak or not, but I feel I need to for closure and for reasons that I will talk about. I have had a rough time of it, but I am strong and will pull through.
She says the sentencing is set for 9:30 next Monday morning (April 12) in Juvenile Court. We have an inquiry out to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for any more information on the case’s status (we confirmed the guilty plea through an online court docket, but more-detailed records in juvenile cases are inaccessible online).
ADDED 3:24 PM: PAO spokesperson Dan Donohoe tells WSB, “We are seeking an exceptional sentence of 52 to 65 weeks. This is above the standard range of 15 to 36 weeks.” And he confirms the 9:30 am Monday sentencing, JC courtroom 2. In the document he also forwarded, the boy corrected his birthdate – he is 14, not 15. In the plea agreement, the state drops a second assault charge, and the boy writes his confession: “On January 23, 2010, I purposefully slapped (driver’s name), a human being. She became unconscious and had substantial facial injuries, as I understand it.” The two boys charged with malicious mischief, for vandalizing the bus, also have pleaded guilty, but under conditions of “deferred disposition” – basically, if they stay out of trouble for a certain amount of time (almost a year for one, six months for the other), there will be another hearing at which the cases will be dismissed.
ADDED 4:36 PM: We also now have an update on the bus safety-barrier test, from Metro spokesperson Rochelle Ogershok:
The demonstration began last Saturday (April 3) with one bus outfitted with a shield deployed out of Metro’s bus base in South King County. Over the next few weeks, six additional shields will be deployed on buses in other parts of the county. The buses will be rotated around and placed on a variety of routes and bus types so as many operators as possible have an opportunity to evaluate and comment on them. Operators will also have a chance to check out the shields at their individual bases. We expect that the actual demonstration will be wrapped up at the end of June. From there, written comments from operators will be reviewed and additional input will be sought from safety and training staff, among others. Metro managers, operators and the transit union will then work together to decide how to move forward.
(Photos courtesy Megan)
We received a couple inquiries about an incident in High Point tonight, and just as we started to inquire with the Southwest Precinct about it, the SPD media unit posted the story on its SPDBlotter site. Police say a 33-year-old man kidnapped a 19-year-old woman from 23rd/Jackson in the Central District and drove her to an apartment in the 6000 block of Lanham Place SW (map). He assaulted her, they report; she escaped and called 911. Officers got there fast, arrested the suspect, and got medical help for the victim, who was taken to a hospital. SPDBlotter says the suspect faces potential charges including kidnapping, assault, auto theft, robbery, and attempted rape. His vehicle was impounded; we received two photos from Megan, including this one:
Police also say the suspect and victim were not strangers, but they’re not sure “to what extent they knew each other.” ADDED 1:22 AM: Central District News crossreferenced the suspect through the city’s online business-license database and noted his address matched up to the one where this incident happened. Tracing that same trail, we note the license issued to him for taxi driving, at that address, expired at the end of 2008.
Published late tonight at seattlepi.com: A woman is charged with attempting to promote commercial sexual abuse of a minor, after she was found in a Gatewood apartment where prosecutors say four teenage girls also were living – three of them runaways. The seattlepi.com report says police were tipped by one runaway’s mom, who discovered that the phone number from which her daughter had called her was linked to what the article describes as “a prostitution-oriented Web site.” Police found the 21-year-old suspect, Kendra M. Williams, with two girls in an apartment in the 7100 block of California SW (map), and say she told officers she was setting up an “escort service.” The King County Jail Register shows that Williams has been in jail since March 29, with bail set at $25,000; we’ll check the court documents after the online system reopens in the morning. ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: It has since been pointed out to us that this story originally appeared at SeattleCrime.com yesterday afternoon – with more details – you can see their story here.
That’s one of the photos the FBI has just released of the woman who robbed the Junction KeyBank yesterday afternoon (here’s our original report). They’ve sent the “WANTED” flyer too – it contains two of the other (small) photos they’ve sent; here’s another one from the FBI e-mail to media:
And one that’s on the “poster”:
We’re asking to see if they have larger versions – we’ve blown these up a bit but that doesn’t help much. Meantime, the FBI adds:
This individual should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information about this individual is asked to contact the FBI by telephone at (206) 622-0460, or e-mail at seattle.fbi@ic.fbi.gov
ORIGINAL 3:28 PM REPORT: From the scanner, and we’re on our way to find out more in person: There’s a report of a bank robbery in The Junction – the address checks to KeyBank at California/Alaska. 3:35 PM UPDATE: The description police are giving out so far: 35-year-old woman, white, about 5-4, slim, shoulder-length black hair, black glasses, black knit cap, black wool jacket, black scarf with red flowers and green leaves, put the money in a “B of A bag,” headed west on Alaska. At the scene, we’re seeing a “temporarily closed” sign on the bank door, with investigators inside.
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli, added 4:47 pm)
3:50 PM UPDATE: We’ve talked to police on the scene; no new description info but we did find out that the robber claimed to have a weapon, though none was actually seen. We’ll also be checking with the FBI to see if they’ll distribute a surveillance photo, as they often do after holdups. (Our archives show at least two holdups at this bank last year – April and August.) 5:03 PM NOTE: Got a question about a damaged police car “near the entrance to (The Bridge)” – according to the scanner watch at CentralDistrictNews.com, an officer crashed while rushing to help with the robbery response here. 8:38 PM: Casey sent a photo snapped while driving by that car:
Meantime, no new info in the search for the bank robber.
The sign in the above-left photo is one of two that brought a lot of smiles and comments when we published photos sent by their creator, Jim Sander, a month ago. Tonight, Pigeon Point’s Pete Spalding says the sign’s been stolen – along with most of the community signpost that held it (“after” photo, above right):
At some point during the day on Friday some low-life scumbag decided to vandalize one of our Pigeon Point neighborhood signposts. These signposts were donated by residents of the Pigeon Point neighborhood. These sign posts are normally used to notify residents of upcoming meetings and events that are taking place in our neighborhood. Now we will have to come up with the funds to replace this signpost and the Welcome to Pigeon Point sign that was attached to the crossbar on top. These signs have been in place for several years and we have had some occasional damage, but nothing on this scope. If anyone has any information about this vandalism please send an e-mail to pigeonpointcouncil@comcast.net.
Ironically, the road closure/detour that inspired the signs is just a few days from wrapping up.
As promised yesterday, we followed up with police on the “Highland Park burglary pattern” mentioned during a Community Police Team briefing at the Admiral Crime Prevention Summit Tuesday night. Southwest Precinct Lt. Norm James summarizes what’s happening:
We have had a string of daytime residential burglaries – 29 in the month of March. The one significant pattern for them is that they are forced entries. We have made a couple of burglary arrests and identified suspects of burglaries in that neighborhood but haven’t tied those to the string of burglaries. We’ve put extra patrols in that neighborhood. Again, as you know – we’ve stated over and over how much we need the citizens out there to be vigilant and call when they see something suspicious.
If you see that suspicious activity/person NOW – call 911. Meantime, we also asked Lt. James about overnight robberies. He confirms that the 7-11 at California/Charlestown (map) was held up just before 2 am today, by robbers described as “two males,” one with a handgun. Police believe the same suspects may have been responsible for a robbery attempt in South Park three hours earlier, at the SP Grocery in the 8900 block of 14th S. (map) And back in West Seattle, Lt. James also confirms a call we heard on the scanner and mentioned via Twitter – A man in the 5400 block of 31st SW (map) answered his door around midnight, and a man “brandished a handgun and forced his way in. The victim got the suspect to leave somehow without being injured or taking anything. This suspect doesn’t match the two commercial robbery suspects.” (Thanks to Diane for the 7-11 tip, after she heard it on a Channel 5 newscast.)
The Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s Crime Prevention Summit brought more than 50 people into a big circle at Hiawatha Community Center last night – among them, Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow, who shared crimefighting tips you’ve heard before, and some you haven’t. One thing we learned: If you’re going away, you can put in a “Request to Watch” (call or visit the precinct) to ask that police keep an eye on your house; Kinlow says they’ll go by each day. 
As for how best to protect your house, he repeated over and over again, your watchful neighbors are your best weapons – form a Block Watch if you don’t have one already. Also at the meeting, Community Police Team Officers Adonis Topacio (at left, in plainclothes since he’s currently on a temporary stint with the burglary/theft team), Kevin McDaniel and Jill Vanskike (who temporarily handling Officer Topacio’s western West Seattle sectors – 
map at right). They explained that Community Police Team officers are the ones you call to talk about non-urgent but troubling problems – like nuisance properties, illegal dumping, recurring noise problems. (Their contact info is here.) But if it’s something happening NOW, they stressed – as police do, over and over again – CALL 911. “You guys know your neighborhoods better than anyone, so if it’s suspicious, call it in, there’s no harm in that,” said Officer Topacio. Finally, ANA president Katy Walum announced the summit’s success sparked plans for quarterly meetings of a Safety Committee – first one, June 7th (time/location TBA), with a focus on Block Watch formation and networking.
SIDE NOTE: While police handed out the list of Admiral area crimes we linked here yesterday, they said they weren’t seeing any particular trends in Admiral – but regarding comparison to other neighborhoods, they mentioned a current burglary “pattern” in Highland Park. We’re following up with SPD to find out more.
Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports to share tonight – one neighborhood with at least three car break-ins in recent days, another car-prowl victim who wants to remind you of the lesson too many learn too late, and a case of gate vandalism – read on:Read More
We’re writing this as the Admiral Neighborhood Association Crime Prevention Summit wraps up – no big headlines but more than 50 people are here, connecting with each other to talk about Block Watches, and hearing police share lots of good prevention info you can’t hear often enough. There’s also a plan for quarterly meetings to keep the focus on crimefighting (separate from the regular monthly ANA meetings). More details later. First, we have several Crime Watch reports to share from around the area – starting with a vehicle break-in at a popular park – read on:Read More
ORIGINAL 11:19 A REPORT: We’ve received a few calls about the chopper over SE West Seattle/White Center. Officers are after a woman described on the scanner as having a shotgun; it started in the 10700 block of 18th. More to come. NOON UPDATE: We’ve just talked at the scene with King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart. He tells us this began when residents interrupted a burglary in progress. They’re OK but three suspects — including the aforementioned armed woman – are being sought. 12:45 PM UPDATE: Our video of Sgt. Urquhart’s media briefing is back in house; uploading now, but in the meantime, the newest details – one suspect was caught, two on the loose. He says all three are believed to be teenagers. (added) Here’s the video (you can hear the helicopter/s in the background):
ADDED 11:14 PM: Two more suspects have been arrested, after a raid on a South Seattle motel, according to this KING 5 report.
KING 5 broke the story tonight: An assistant manager at the Admiral Jack in the Box is now charged with robbery in connection with the early-morning holdup at the restaurant last February. The station reports that police say 33-year-old Michelle Miesner confessed to having the robbery staged but claimed the “robbers” then made off with all the money, though she reportedly admitted she’d stolen more than $2,000 from the restaurant before. According to the King County Jail Register, Miesner was arrested last Tuesday afternoon and released from jail 25 hours later. (Thanks to Diane for the tip about the KING story.) ADDED 8:56 AM TUESDAY: We have the charging documents now. Read on for a few more details: Read More
The Admiral Neighborhood Association has just sent out one more reminder about its Crime Prevention Summit tomorrow night, with two Southwest Precinct reps in attendance – Community Police Team Officer Adonis Topacio and Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Kinlow. In preparation for the meeting, ANA president Katy Walum has just sent out a document police sent in advance – a list of notable crimes in the area so far this year (through March 15th). Here’s that document; as for what area it covers, here’s a map. Tomorrow night’s event is at 6:30 pm at Hiawatha Community Center (map).
Three break-in reports to share tonight – one at a home, two involving cars – read on:Read More
CRIME WATCH REPORT #1: That window-repair work in the Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) nursery wasn’t originally on the church schedule today … until burglar(s) broke in overnight. That’s not all they did; church staffer Jackie Gould says they used the custodian’s tools to break off part of a door latch, ransacked chapel drawers, and opened a fire extinguisher to spray retardant foam all over the hallway, even in a resource room where kids’ art/craft supplies (and other items) were stored:
The burglar(s) also stole small electronics including an iPod belonging to the church’s wedding coordinator. As you might be able to tell from that photo, some footprints were left in the foam in that room; most of the other damage was cleaned up by the time we dropped by at mid-afternoon.
CRIME WATCH REPORT #2: The keeper of the “Ducky Reserve” at Lowman Beach, Ron Sterling, has surveillance video equipment trained on his whimsical display at all times. They’ve caught some unusual sights over the years. This time, they’ve caught an unmistakable case of vandalism destroying/stealing the St. Patrick’s Day display he hadn’t changed over yet. He’s posted about it in the WSB Forums, including a link to video of the incident.
We’ve mentioned next Tuesday’s event before; now, the flyer just went out on the Admiral Neighborhood Association mailing list – read on for the text:Read More
Three Crime Watch reports to share – one condo break-in, two car break-ins (that’s where the teacher’s bag comes in) – read on:Read More
We’ve had a couple reports of vandalism in Crime Watch the past few days (see the WSCW page for links) – and another one this morning. We took the photos above after Dr. Bill Raleigh (WSB sponsor) e-mailed us to report, “We are sad to say the handcrafted sign out in front of our office was destroyed over the weekend. Being right on the corner of California and Genesee [map] and in a well-lit area didn’t help – the vandals broke the sign in half, leaving pieces strewn over our grass.”
Our partners at the Seattle Times just broke this story: Police are looking for a man who coached a West Seattle youth-soccer team until last November, now that he has been charged with child molesting and other crimes. 38-year-old Francisco “Javier” Valdivia-Enriquez, who coached Deportivio Moctezuma, is accused of molesting nine teenage boys, according to the Times. He reportedly has not been seen since late November and is believed to be out of the country. More when we get the charging documents. ADDED 12:37 PM: We have received and read the paperwork – read on for a summary:Read More
2 short Crime Watch reports to share tonight – one just in from Anne-Marie, reporting car vandalism not far from the car-egging report published here earlier:
We had vandalism done to our car tonight. 39th and Thistle [map]. I saw two young teens in baseball caps run after kicking the side mirror off the car. Police have been called.
And from Joseph:
My son’s Huffy Mongoose kid’s bike (orange/gold) and silver Razor scooter with red handlebars/trim was stolen today from our carport that faces the alley behind the West Seattle Baptist church, right off California and Genesee [map]. It happened between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm. Wanted folks to know.
ADDED 1:21 AM: One more Crime Watch report – a phone grab at a West Seattle bus stop – read on:Read More
One week after our last report, here’s another one – Kate got hit:
Just wanted to let you know my car was hit with eggs last night – near the corner of 35th and Elmgrove [map]. Looks like I was the only one, but not sure if anyone else was targeted. It made a huge mess and after washing it all off, you can see where the egg shells exploded and scratched the paint. Fun!
This falls squarely in the corner of the type of incident police want to make sure you report, even if you think it’s “minor” … as “KBear” wrote in the 20-comment discussion that followed last Monday’s report, “Just because petty crime may be commonplace doesn’t mean we should put up with it in our community.” There’ve been some reports of items thrown at moving vehicles, for example, which can startle a driver and cause a crash. The non-emergency number (which would be appropriate unless you come across someone in the act of throwing something) is 206-625-5011.
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