The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department’s West Precinct. They represent the officers’ accounts of the events described.
Unhappy Customer
Just before 9 p.m. on Oct. 23, police responded to a convenience store in the 600 block of Denny Way after employees called 911 to report a drunken suspect had just assaulted a clerk.
Employees said the suspect came into the store looking to buy beer. They realized he was already intoxicated, and refused to sell him any alcohol. The suspect became enraged and started yelling and screaming, and walked over to a refrigerator full of energy drinks and knocked them all out onto the floor.
After this display, the suspect walked over to the counter and punched one of the clerks in the left eye. He exited and returned to the store several times before police arrived, at one point he pulled a large knife out but didn’t use it. The last time the suspect entered the store one of the clerks pulled out a can of pepper spray and pointed it at him.
At approximately 9:45 p.m., police found the suspect at Sixth Avenue and Wall Street. He was combative with officers, resisting arrest and making threats. He attempted to kick the window out of the patrol car while being transported to King County Jail. The suspect was booked into jail for assault, property damage and harassment.
Caught In the Act
Just after 5:30 p.m. on Oct, 27, a man living in the 3400 block of 24th Avenue West called 911 to report he’d just caught a man trying to break into his house.
He said he’d been downstairs when he heard a noise upstairs. He walked upstairs and saw the suspect standing outside the side door. He kicked the door to alert the suspect he was there.
The suspect, who was wearing a ski jacket with half his face covered, dropped the crowbar he was holding and ran off. The victim followed the suspect about a block down the street before he lost sight of him. He said that after he lost visual of the suspect a silver car sped past him. He thinks the suspect was in the silver car.
Responding police took a look at the side door, and saw the doorknob was broken off. They checked for fingerprints or any other evidence, but didn’t find any.
Stolen Tools
A little before 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 26, police responded to a residential burglary at a house in the 2500 block of 10th Avenue West.
The house is under construction, and two of the workers told police they’d noticed a bunch of their smaller tools were missing from inside the house when they got to work that morning.
It appeared a burglar came in through an open window in the house’s kitchen. The workers said they believed the burglary took place between 7 p.m. the previous night and 7 a.m. that morning. The larger tools were left behind, but the burglar took about $1,500 worth of power drills and sanders.
Change Thief
At approximately 10:15 a.m. on Oct. 25, the building manager of an apartment building in the 1400 block of West Ruffner Street called 911 to report someone broke into the two on-site laundry rooms between midnight and 4 a.m.
The burglar gained entry to the exterior-access laundry rooms by twisting off the door knobs. Once inside the laundry rooms the burglar broke into three coin collection boxes on the laundry machines and stole about $400 in change.
Storage Unit Burglary
Just before 7 p.m. on Oct. 23, police responded to an apartment building in the 2200 block of 14th Avenue West for a burglary to the building’s storage facility.
The victim reported she’d been away from home on a work trip, when she got home she went down to her storage unit and found her $5,000 specialized bike was stolen. A bunch of the other residents’ storage unit doors were standing open, the victim said she found parts of her bike and some of her bike tools in an adjacent storage unit.
The building managers said they were looking into it, and they suspected someone had been sleeping in the storage units.
While talking with residents of the building the manager learned that one resident had seen a suspect rummaging through trash in the parking garage about two weeks prior to this incident. The same resident said she hadn’t thought much of it until she later saw the suspect attempting to get into the building using a credit card. She said she’d confronted him and told him to leave.
Rummaged House
At 7:15 p.m. on Oct. 22, police responded to a burglary at a house in the 1000 block of West Ruffner Street.
The victim said he’d been out of town over the weekend, and his neighbor had called him to tell him he noticed his front door was open. The neighbor video chatted with the victim and did a walkthrough of the house. Not noticing anything big was missing, the victim had the neighbor lock up his house and when he got home he reported the burglary.
The victim walked the house with the police. Several rooms had been rummaged, with drawers opened and emptied and items strewn across the floors.
The victim said the only thing taken was a bag full of change that had been sitting near the front door. He estimated the bag held about $300.
Rude Awakening
Just after 4 a.m. on Oct. 22, the resident of a house in the 500 block of West Prospect Street called 911 after being awakened by some loud would-be burglars.
The victim said he’d been asleep when he woke up to loud banging coming from his front door just before 4 a.m. He went to the front door and saw to guys running off.
Two crowbars were left on his front porch. There were pry marks all over the front door and its frame. Police searched for fingerprints and other evidence but none was found.