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• ‘Help the officer’ mistake in Montlake: A mistaken “help the officer” dispatch brought a flood of Seattle Police officers to Montlake Blvd E at NE Pacific St early Thursday. According to SPD radio updates, police were called to help after a Washington State trooper was reported in a struggle with a suspect in the area around 2 AM. The “help the officer” protocol allows police to respond at high speeds when a member of law enforcement is reported threatened or in an altercation. Arriving units quickly located and stopped the described suspect but could not locate any trooper. SPD tells CHS the suspect was possibly in crisis and had been involved in an altercation and attempted to spit on a victim but the “help the officer” call was in error and no law enforcement was involved in the initial report. There were no reported injuries. The suspect was arrested to be booked for the assault.
• Biltmore fire: Seattle Fire was called to The Biltmore apartments on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning but fortunately the blaze turned out to be small and did no major damage. According to SFD radio reports, the fire was reported just after 6 AM at the E Loretta Place building. Arriving units were done at the scene quickly, however, when it was discovered the incident was a “food on stove” fire and limited to a small kitchen fire. There were no reported injuries.
• First Hill apartment standoff: A police standoff dragged out after a First Hill apartment dweller who left his unit to pick up a dinner delivery found a man had entered his residence and barricaded himself inside. According to SPD’s brief on the Saturday night incident and radio reports, the victim said he returned to his Spring St. apartment around 7:30 PM to find a stranger carrying a guitar had made himself at home and locked the resident out:
  When officers arrived just after 07:30 p.m. Saturday, the male victim reported he went to retrieve a delivery and when he returned to his apartment an unknown male was inside. The male suspect shouted at the victim to get out of the apartment and if the victim returned the male suspect would shoot him. The victim did not see a weapon, but reported the suspect implied he had one. Officers secured the apartment building and began attempts to communicate with the now barricaded male suspect. Seattle Police Hostage Negotiators responded to the scene to assist in communication efforts with the suspect. After several hours of communication attempts by officers, a search warrant was obtained to make entry into the apartment.
  Police say the suspect eventually came out and surrendered to the SWAT team assembled to clear him out. There were no reported injuries.
• Pellet gun arrest: A victim driving near 14th and Yesler reported a man on the street pointed a gun at him in an incident early last Friday morning. According to SPD, the victim in the 5 AM altercation called 911 and reported he was driving when the suspect walked up to his car, shined a flashlight and pointed a gun at him. Police located the 30-year-old suspect nearby and placed him under arrest. SPD says a realistic-looking pellet gun was recovered during the arrest and report that the suspect bit an officer on the arm as police took him into custody.
• SPD reports Auto and Retail Operations: SPD reports officers arrested five suspects in a city-wide Auto Theft Operation last weekend:
  Just after 12:30 p.m. last Saturday, the operation began with officers completing surveillance and routine checks of vehicles. Some of the vehicles stopped had no license plates, modified trip permits, or returned as a stolen vehicle when a records check was completed. Officers detained the occupants of these vehicles and identified them. A few of the suspects had outstanding warrants, so officers booked them into jail.
  SPD says four stolen vehicles, two handguns, and narcotics were recovered. SPD says it has also been conducting “Retail Theft Operations” including an effort that produce five arrests busting shoplifters on Rainier Avenue S.
• Vigil shots fired: Gunfire in the East Precinct near a community vigil sent attendees scattered but caused no injuries in a Thursday, January 5th incident:
  At 1932 hours, officers responded to a shooting call at 31 AV and E Columbia St. Officers located a vigil that had approximately 30 people on scene. An unknown subject pulled a firearm and shot multiple rounds in the area causing several people to disperse. While officers were trying to investigate the shooting, there was a confrontational female. Officers placed this subject in handcuffs, and the subject spit in an officer’s face. The subject was placed under arrest for Assault-3 and booked into KCJ. Officers located evidence of a shooting.
• Plymouth Housing fire: The supportive housing at Plymouth on First Hill reportedly suffered “extensive property damage” after a suspect entered a unit and set a mattress on fire at the First Hill building in a Tuesday, January 3rd fire. SPD reports the arson took place around 9 PM when the unidentified suspect started the fire. There were no reported arrests.
  

  (Image: SPD)

• Drug busts: SPD says the arrest of an alleged drug dealer and the seizure of a large amount of illegal drugs and cash this month is part of ongoing operations with Homeland Security Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration “to arrest narcotics dealers and recover narcotics headed to the Seattle area” —
  

  Earlier this month, SPD detectives and HSI agents identified and located a narcotics dealer after several control buy operations. Once a search warrant was obtained, the agencies arrested the narcotics dealer and recovered the following:

  – 415.9 grams of fentanyl pills

  – 657.8 grams of fentanyl powder

  – 1528.6 grams of methamphetamine

  – 834 grams of heroin

  – 22.5 grams of cocaine

  – Approximately $16,700 in cash

  SPD says another bust it assisted with in October brought in a dealer suspected of trafficking “skittle” fentanyl pills between Seattle and California. SPD says the bust by the Clovis Police Department and DEA included seizure of 35 pounds of fentanyl pills, “which is about 160,000 pills valued over one million dollars and over two pounds of heroin.”

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