• Thief walks off with six school projectors: A burglary sometime over Block Party weekend netted the perpetrator thousands of dollars worth of audio-visual equipment from Seattle Central. According to the report on the incident, police arrived at the school to find someone had cut projectors from the ceilings of six classrooms. Each projector was estimated to be worth between $1,600 and $5,000.

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• Man vs. bus at 12th/Pike: Police are investigating an early morning collision between a man and a Metro bus Sunday at E Pike and 12th — but things didn’t happen quite like you might expect. According to police, the Metro coach was heading southbound on 12th Ave just after 2a and approached a green light when the man began crossing against a red. Police say the bus was beginning to move through the intersection when the victim stepped out and walked into the back of the bus as it moved by. The victim was treated for minor injuries and taken to Harborview.
• Victim tracks down burgled bike, steals it back: We’re not endorsing his methods, but here is how one guy got his bike back a year after it was stolen from his Capitol Hill condo. It involves this: “After stalling for as long as I could I check my phone again. Still no word from the cops. So I suggest another test ride, he agrees, I hop on, and never look back!”

• CHBP Vitamin Water assault: Another Block Party weekend incident closer to the action landed a man in jail after police chased him down for allegedly throwing a bottle at CHBP security early Sunday morning just after 2a.
• Victim says beat with brass knuckles in Cal Anderson: A man police say had been playing Scrabble with his uncle in the park was found beaten shortly after in an assault Wednesday night at Cal Anderson.

The victim’s uncle told police that an exchange of “putdowns” between his nephew and another man who the uncle said walked up to them without provocation to challenge the victim lead to the assault. 

A search for the alleged assailant in the area was not successful.

• Hand Lotion Attack on Pine and Minor: A man called SPD just before 4:30 p.m. yesterday to report that an unidentified female was “acting crazy.” Victim reported that the suspect had thrown something on him after being accused of “gawking at her.”  The man denied gawking at her, and promptly turned away, when she thew the liquid on the victim’s head and jacket. The suspect fled the scene on foot after the incident. The liquid was later determined to be hand lotion.
• CHS reader lends hand in 12th/John arrest: Reader Ryan brings us details of a thief getting busted after Ryan’s quick actions early Sunday morning near 12th and John. Looks like the alleged bad guy was booked for investigation of auto theft.

Hey J,
I thought I should send along this story. It’s not a huge news story or anything, but the police involved seemed frustrated with our community’s willingness to just ignore these kind of crimes.

My wife and I live near the corner of 12th Ave E and John. After going to a close friend’s birthday party at Narwhal we went home to relax on the couch and watch some Olympics. We both fell asleep. At about 5:30am I heard a noise coming from our bike room (our back entrance is where we usually come in and out of, and keep all our bikes, hence, the bike room). It took my sleepy ass a few seconds to realize something wasn’t right. Some guy was in our house. I jumped off the couch and chased him out onto 12th ave where he headed south. He ran west into a driveway just before Denny which is where I tackled him. I held him from behind with my left arm pinning his left arm against his back. That’s when I saw that he had my wife’s motorcycle key (which we keep on the pegboard in the bicycle room) in his right hand. After a bit of scuffling, I had him pinned and started yelling for someone to call the police. A resident from the apartment we were behind came down and told me to get off the guy. From his perspective I just tackled some dude for no reason, and the burglar was pretty bloody at that point. Right after that my wife, our neighbor, and the SPD showed up. SPD cuffed the guy and took statements. The burgler asked for medical assistance, so Seattle Fire had to send down an engine and an ambulance. Here’s the shitty part. SPD had contacted him  earlier while he was walking around peering into cars, drunk as hell, an hour before this happened. The investigating officer had just dealt with this guy an hour before he broke into my home, stole my wife’s medical badge (she’s an RN at Harbor View) stole the key to her motorcycle, removed the battery plate and cover from the bike, started a fire in our backyard and burnt one of our chairs, ripped out our parsley plant, lavender plant, and sage plant. He told the police he thought he was in his house. The cops told us that almost every time they catch a burglar they claim that they are wasted and thought they were at their own home. And what frustrates the cops is that most victims will not press charges. And now prosecuters won’t persue these cases because “well he was just drunk, or high, or something.” But meanwhile our homes are being broken into. Our fucking parsley is being destroyed. Joking aside, the main officer at the scene made a comment to me along the lines of “hopefully the local media picks it up”. I don’t care what happens to the guy that broke into my house, I doubt he’ll ever make the mistake of coming into my place again. I do care that as a community, if we keep letting this happen, we will all be in a bad place. Almost everyone I know on the hill reads your blog, and you have an influence on this community. People need to report crimes, and let’s work together as a community to try and end this shit.