Category Archives: Crime

Lakeview overpass guardrail holds despite ‘significant damage’ in overnight hit and run crash

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(Image: @sdottraffic)

The guardrail did its job — barely — on one of Capitol Hill’s most perilous turns when a car smashed into the curb and then the barrier on the Lakeview Blvd overpass high above I-5 early Friday morning.

Seattle Police, Seattle Fire rushed to the scene of the 2:17 AM collision after witnesses reported seeing occupants of the crashed car get into a following vehicle and flee the scene northbound on Lakeview. The crash did “significant damage to the retaining wall” on the westbound, downhill side of the overpass according to East Precinct radio dispatches and a chunk of the guardrail reportedly fell to the side of the street along Eastlake Ave below. Washington Patrol was also called to check for debris from the overpass in the southbound lanes of I-5. There were no reports of injuries below the overpass. Continue reading →

911 | Recycling truck fire causes charred mess on Summit Ave E

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Fast work on a messy fire on Summit Ave E Thursday morning. Thanks to reader Cheryl Jochman for the photos!

See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or tune into the CHS Scanner page.

  • Ship Canal rescue: A person who reportedly jumped from the Ship Canal Bridge during Thursday morning’s commute survived the fall and was rescued from the waters near Portage Bay before Seattle Fire rushed him to the hospital. Police and SFD responded to the just after 9 AM incident as traffic was backed up on northbound I-5. Seattle Fire reportedly rushed the adult male to Harborview. We do not have additional information on his condition at this time. Continue reading →

Police investigate 18th/Pike gunfire

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Police found a single shell casing but no injuries and no damage after gunfire near 18th and Pike Monday night. Meanwhile, statistics show that the city’s early year gun violence has been confined to areas outside the Central District and Capitol HIll.

Police were called to the 1500 block of 18th Ave around 10:30 PM to a report of a male who fired a single shot and fled the scene. Arriving officers found no victims and no damage but did locate a spent casing at the scene.

There were no arrests during a search of the area but one person was detained before being released.

Overall, reports of shots fired incidents were higher in the first weeks of 2020 compared to the same period last year but, according to the latest Seattle Police statistics (PDF), the East Precinct covering the Central District and Capitol Hill has been mostly free of gun violence with only three of the city’s 35 reported incidents.

After development project kicked back into motion this week, fire scorches Belmont Ave E property lined up for demolition

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A garage part of a large set of properties lined up for redevelopment burned Thursday afternoon and brought a large Seattle Fire response to Belmont Ave E.

There were no reported injuries and damage from the fire appeared to have mostly been limited to the detached garage along Belmont. Seattle Fire was investigating to determine the blaze’s cause.

Seattle Police was also collecting evidence at the scene after being called to a report of squatters on the property earlier this week. Continue reading →

After Blaine Street Steps escape, SPD K9 Pele tracks down auto theft suspect carrying cash-stuffed fanny pack

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Tracking down a stolen Volvo on Capitol Hill and excellent work by department K9 Pele netted police a warrants suspect, dozens of bags of stolen goods, and a fanny pack filled with thousands of dollars in cash and stolen credit cards.

Police say the Volvo was tracked via GPS to the 1700 block Lakeview Blvd E Tuesday night just before 9 PM where officers found four suspects, “several of whom were moving items from the Volvo into a waiting BMW.” Continue reading →

SPD rolls out ‘This is my neighborhood’ campaign to boost recruitment of ‘local’ officers

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Mayor Jenny Durkan touted her police department’s success in recruiting new “local” officers — especially officers of color — as she launched a new “This is My Neighborhood” program hoped to continue the trend:

“This is My Neighborhood” continues the City’s work to advance hiring, recruitment, and retention at the Seattle Police Department. Last year, the City released the 2019 Recruitment & Hiring Retention Workgroup report, which outlines 12 key strategies the City can take to recruit and retain more police officers dedicated to reform and true community policing.

“Seattle is one of the fastest growing cities in the country over the last decade, but our police department has not grown proportionally, and we’re working hard to catch up. In 2020, we’re a big city with big city challenges, and we need a robust police department with officers committed to true, community policing,” Durkan said. Continue reading →

‘We can move our secure perimeter’ — 12th Ave’s new Children and Family Justice Center designed for hopes of a shrinking youth jail population

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With colors, murals, game tables, and art that make the new facility feel like a cross between a new high school and juvenile hall, King County is showing off its new Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center on 12th Ave.

It is also designed, officials say, to slowly transform.

“As we move toward zero youth detention, how we can repurpose space?” one official said during a tour of the new facility’s detention area. “As our population decreases,” she said in the middle of one of the center’s living halls designed to look like dorms but secured for incarceration with electronic locks and state of the art surveillance systems, “we can move our secure perimeter.” Continue reading →

Police search for suspect in Capitol Hill IHOP leftovers gun threat

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Police were searching for a customer who pulled a gun after a manager told him he couldn’t grab food off other tables at IHOP in an assault reported early Saturday morning at the E Madison 24-hour restaurant.

According to the SPD report on the 4:30 AM incident caught on security video, the man had come in and sat down before he began collecting food off other tables inside the diner. Staff told the man to stop and when the manager told the suspect that he also was not allowed to bring food from outside into the restaurant, the man became even more upset. Continue reading →

SPD searches for suspect after reported Melrose gunpoint robbery

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A victim reported being robbed at gunpoint Wednesday morning near Melrose and E Harrison.

Police were called to the area just after 10:10 AM to the report that a male suspect armed with a handgun held up the victim and took off with a backpack in the heist.

Police and a K9 unit were searching the area around Melrose and the connector trail where the suspect was last seen. He was described as a male in his 30s or 40s, with shoulder length dark hair, wearing a green puffy jacket, and carrying an olive green backpack.

There were no immediate arrests and no serious injuries were reported.

Capitol Hill masked superhero Phoenix Jones charged for selling Molly at a downtown Starbucks

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(Image: Phoenix Jones)

The man known as Pacific Northwest vigilante Phoenix Jones — who became Seattle famous patrolling the streets of Capitol Hill as a masked superhero in the mid 2010s —  has been charged for allegedly selling Molly out of the 3rd Ave Starbucks and bringing coke to the Silver Cloud across from T-Mobile Park.

KOMO was first to report the charges against Benjamin Fodor and his alleged accomplice Tuesday:

A witness told detectives they could not believe Fodor had not been caught yet by authorities, paving the way for an undercover sting operation designed to catch the superhero that turned to a life of a crime. The operation revealed Fodor sold MDMA or “Molly” to an undercover narcotics detective Nov. 21 at a Starbucks at 999 3rd Avenue.

According to court documents, police say Fodor was paid $300 via Venmo after allegedly selling methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as Molly, to an undercover cop in a deal made at the Starbucks at 3rd and Madison. Continue reading →