Early morning helicopter over Hill -- UPDATE: Woman attacked

UPDATE 2:12 PM:
The woman attacked in an alley near 17th and Howell around 3:30 AM had given her assailant a ride to the location, Seattle Police Department spokesperson Sean Whitcomb tells CHS. The 24-year-old woman suffered minor injuries in the assault. Whitcomb said it does not appear the man was armed. Whitcomb said the suspect managed to elude the subsequent helicopter and K-9 unit search. The suspect is described as a black male in his 20s, approximately 5' 8" and wearing a black sweatshirt, blue jeans and a black beanie at the time of the assault.

UPDATE 1:25 PM:
CHS just talked with area resident Nathan Williams who e-mailed us this explanation for the helicopter search. We'll follow up with SPD to see what else we can learn. Here's Nathan's mail:

I was awakened this morning at 3:30am or so by a woman screaming "help" (alley between 17th, 18th, denny, and howell). I dressed quickly and found her sitting on the ground. She had been beaten pretty badly and said a man had tried to rape and kill her. I asked her if the man was still around, but she said he had driven off. She had already called the police by this point and soon an ambulance came down Denny which I flagged down.

They started treating her and I went back inside. Soon after cops started arriving and searched the area pretty exhaustively (at least 6 cops, a dog) and the helicopter started circling around that time. I'm guessing it was a police helicopter looking for her assailant, though if he actually drove off I can't imagine it would have done much good. They roped off the area around her car with police tape but it was gone (as was the car) by the time I was up again at 8am.

The woman was in rough shape but none of her injuries seemed life-threatening. I hope she's doing alright.

bits of police tape morning after mystery
helicopter circling in middle of night 2009-08-27
Originally uploaded by pmocek

Here's the picture of the alley where SPD was investigating that Phil links to in the comments on this post.

Original Report:
Back on the CHS mystery helicopter beat. A flurry of reports of a late-night copter buzzing the Hill early this A.M. Looking into the why of it. Know anything? chs@capitolhillseattle.com

any idea why there was a helicopter hovering over my bedroom (16th & e olive st) last night at 3:52am? it was terrifying. i thought we might be under attack, but i guess not. i didn't see anything in the incident log, either. eventually, it circled a little until about 4:03am, when it left the area. i never heard any sirens (thank goodness) so i guess they didn't find the person/people for whom they were searching...

 

just curious (and sleepy.)

thanks,

alison

Thanks for the tip, neighbor Alison. Here are a few more Hill reports of the buzz:

• x03: Awake thanks to the Capitol Hill stealth helicopter special 4am edition. Internet proves useless in helping me get back to sleep...
• RobLaGatta: Anyone know what's up with this helicopter hovering like 20 feet above Capitol Hill with no lights on at 4 in the morning? Weak.

We'll check in with SPD and other powers that be to see what we can find out. A man was shot and killed around this time in the Mt. Baker area -- a subsequent search by helicopter could be an explanation.

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