See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS Crime coverage here.
- UPDATE: Man struck at Belmont/Bellevue: A man in his 70s was reported unconscious and bleeding from the head after being struck by a driver as he walked in a crosswalk at Belmont Ave E and Bellevue Place E Wednesday morning. Police and Seattle Fire arrived at the scene of the 9:39 AM collision to block off traffic and provide treatment before taking the man to the hospital. According to Seattle Fire radio, the driver was traveling around 10 to 15 MPH when the pedestrian walking his dog was hit. The man suffered a laceration to his head and was rushed to Harborview. The dog was not injured and with Seattle Police after the incident. UPDATE: We don’t have any current information on the victim’s condition but SFD tells us he was considered to have suffered serious injuries including injuries to his head and legs in the collision.
- Crime stats: The latest SPD SeaStat (PDF) statistical crime analysis public report has been released and it shows crime overall in the city so far in 2016 is up about 2% compared to the same period last year. The rise is driven mostly by big jumps in commercial burglaries, car prowls, and, worse, sexual assaults and domestic violence assaults. This month’s report also tallies how many firearms have been confiscated so far in 2016 — 698 — and shows that the most recent trend for gunfire reports in the city has shifted south from Capitol Hill and the Central District to South Seattle. Thursday brings this month’s EastPAC community crime meeting at Seattle U’s Chardin Hall.
- Cal Anderson sexual assault: Seattle Police arrested a man Sunday evening for allegedly grabbing a woman’s breasts at Cal Anderson Park while yelling “rape culture is awesome.” According to police reports, the victim was taking a nap in the park around 7 PM when the 31-year-old suspect laid down next to her and grabbed her. The victim told police she did not know the man. Two friends of the woman tried to stop the suspect. One punched the man before police arrived. He was treated for injuries and booked into King County Jail.
- Fireworks: The latest period of booming late night fireworks across Capitol Hill appears to have subsided. September 12th marked a high point — or low point for light sleepers — with at least three sessions of illegal pyrotechnic activity overnight. SPD has investigated a few of the incidents but we’re not aware of any arrests or citations related to the booms.
911 calls overnight for boom incidents. All believed to be fireworks. Only eyewitness account was 2a in Cal Anderson near fountain
— jseattle (@jseattle) September 12, 2016
- Lowell Elementary poop: Parents at Capitol Hill’s Lowell Elementary are on alert after this September 13th “excrement attack” —
A police report will be made this morning and info is being circulated to Cap Hill about this incident at Lowell Elementary yesterday afternoon. Shortly after school released yesterday at 3:45, while children were playing on the playground, someone entered the playgrou and deliberately left excrement on the play structure.The suspect is an adult woman, “mom”-like, who came into the playground after school looking anxious. Other parents standing there. assumed it was a new parent trying to find her kid. She was bet 5’2″ and 5’5″, wavy brownish hair, Caucasian, and wearing cutoffs or something shorter. She had her arms crossed in front of her, looking like she might be carrying something. She came in and went directly onto the playground. She was seen by a parent who thought she looked out of place, but no one spoke to her. Access to Lowell’s playground is currently locked and gate, with gates being unlocked in the morning and afternoon for dropoff and pickup.
“This is a very worrisome act because it is antisocial behavior, and demonstrates impaired judgement,” the notice distributed by concerned parents continues. “One of the younger kids could very well have touched the excrement, so there are significant health implications. It was boldly done, in the midst of parents standing around, and deliberately directed at the children.” One parent also provided CHS with photographic evidence of the crime. We have no idea why you’d want to click on it but offer it, here, in the name of journalism. - First Hill domestic violence stabbing: Police and Seattle Fire were called to the 1200 block of Seneca the night of September 15th to a reported stabbing. Officers found the victim in the 11 PM attack had been allegedly injured with a letter opener by her partner. The suspect was contacted and being interviewed by police. The female victim’s injuries were described as minor.
- 2012 shooting arrest: CD The suspect in a 2012 Central District shooting was arrested earlier this month after a September 6th car chase:
On Tuesday, members of SPD’s SWAT and Gang Units tracked the suspect to Renton, and tailed him as he rode in the passenger seat of a red 2007 Hummer SUV. When officers tried to pull the vehicle over, the Hummer’s 28-year-old driver sped away into oncoming traffic on the Maple Valley Highway. The driver of the Hummer eventually stopped about a half mile away, in the 15000 block of 135th Avenue Southeast. There, the 26-year old suspect fled on foot and was caught a short time later on the banks of the nearby Cedar River. After arresting the 26-year-old and the driver of the Hummer, officers found the driver’s six-year-old child in the backseat of the car. Police turned the young boy, who was uninjured, over to his mother and took the two men into jail, booking the 28-year-old for attempting to elude police, and the 26-year-old for more than $700,000 in felony warrants.
One man was seriously injured in the August 2012 shooting near MLK and Cherry. - Grenade report: Police and SWAT units fanned out around E Pike and First Hill Monday afternoon, September 12th, searching for a man who was reported to have made threats in multiple incidents in the area and claimed to be carrying a grenade at a Minor Ave facility:
Officers searched for the man for about two hours including sweeps inside area hospitals and the First Hill McDonald’s. The suspect was eventually identified but not located and the search shifted to the area near his downtown residence. Around 6:15 PM Monday, police took the man into custody without incident. He was booked on investigation of harassment and his currently jailed. No grenade was found. - Broadway burglary: A home in the 900 block of Broadway E was ransacked in a burglary reported Friday, September 16th. Police came to the house after the owner found a window broken out. A search of the house didn’t turn up the burglar but did reveal the extent of the $3,900 ripoff:
The owner reported that among the missing items were two wedding rings and three ounces of gold. Meanwhile, a home in the 1300 block of Lakeview Blvd E had more than $6,000 worth of items taken in another burglary involving access via a busted window. Both incidents are under investigation. - QFC assault: Police were called to an overnight attack inside the 15th Ave E QFC in this September 3rd incident:
There were no arrests. - Dog argument: Two men reported an argument over a dog led to an assault involving a handgun at 10th and Pike late on the night of September 7th:
A search for the suspect was not successful. - School bathroom arrest: Seattle Central security guards needed help after trying to remove a male from the campus who reportedly was smearing feces on the school’s bathroom wall. In the September 8th afternoon incident, police arrived and took the man into custody after the guards reported he had fought with them and tried to use a phone charging adapter and chord as a weapon.
- Lake Washington rescue: SPD’s Harbor Patrol rescued two men from an overturned sailboat on Lake Washington Tuesday night:
Harbor 6 arrived and located the two men, both 60-years-old, in the water. One man was on the overturned hull section of the sailboat and the other was clinging to the boat. Both men were visibly shaking from exposure to the cold water.
Neither man was seriously injured in the incident.
What a time to be alive.
Lot of poop-related crime. Shit’s gettin’ real.
That was a shitty pun
chord or cord ?
Anyone else remember how the Seattle Times and Candidate Ed Murray went after McGinn on crime during the last election? I wonder if the Times will be as hard on Murray in the next.
“Other parents standing there. assumed it was a new parent trying to find her kid.…but no one spoke to her.”
“This is a very worrisome act because it is antisocial behavior…”
yes, other adults who see another adult, and think it’s a worried parent (or even just a slightly off adult), and don’t bother to even speak to that person is very antisocial behavior. how about, next time, asking the adult you don’t know, why they are at the school and can you help them?
“One of the younger kids could very well have touched the excrement … in the midst of parents standing around”
this i don’t get. how could the kids have touched it, if they were in the midst of parents? aren’t the parents watching the kids and ushering them out of the area once the poopening happened?
excellent points. Antisocial indeed. And classic Seattle “freeze”– god forbid any terrified, meek Seattleites should TALK to someone they don’t know. I’ve heard it said “in Seattle, compared to many other places, people will be the first to call 911 for you– but the last to actually engage and help”.
Also…kudos for “poopening”. :-)
Re “classic Seattle freeze”: I grew up in Seattle and always considered myself a friendly person and found others easy to talk to. However when my kids were in school (they’re grown now) Seattle was flooded by people from other states coming here at that time for MSFT jobs. Perhaps it isn’t considered rude back east to constantly bitch about everything you dislike about your new city compared to where you came from, but I found the behavior off-putting and eventually socialized very little with those folks. Then they’d all talk about how cold people from Seattle are. There was much speculation in the papers at the time that this culture clash was new money, or techie nerds who hadn’t learned to socialize. I don’t know, but I wonder if those experiencing the “freeze” should sometimes ask themselves why they might be getting the cold shoulder. It would never occur to me to move to another city and talk to the locals about what a shithole it was.
Double kudos for “the poopening”.
Maybe sometimes Del, but ofttimes not. I remember when I first moved here with my Ex, and we f**king LOVED Seattle right from the start (and both still do, BTW, 20 years later). We never went around bitching or complaining about things here or compared them to back East. If fact, we moved here specifically because we loved it and it *wasn’t* like back east. My Ex was, and still is, extremely friendly and outgoing, and it scared people to death sometimes. I do think it’s part of the Seattle personality– circumspect and introverted to the point of socially stunted, sometimes. Not only socially inept techie nerds, either. And it’s especially obvious when you visit other places, where you’re just as big a stranger, and people more open and conversant than Seattleites. At least Seattle doesn’t engage so much in hating on Californians as it used to be perfectly socially acceptable to do.