SEATTLE SUN - VOL. 6, ISSUE 9, SEPTEMBER 2002

Copyright 2002 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

Cops 'n' Robbers

By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Skydivers on Aurora:

On Saturday, Aug. 17 at 1:35 p.m., a woman reported seeing jumpers on the Aurora Bridge. When police arrived they found two men, one in his 20s and one in his 30s, on the scene. The older man was wearing a parachute and told police he was a skydiving instructor and that his student had just jumped off the bridge. The two stated that the student had made a safe landing and had been picked up by a vehicle. The instructor refused to give his student's name. The two men were transported out of the area and an unsuccessful search was made for the student. Officers requested that reckless endangerment charges be filed if the student can be identified.

Roomie cleans up:

On Friday, Aug. 16 a woman in her 30s got into a verbal argument with her roommate, a man in his 50s. The woman left for work at 6:30 p.m. that evening and didn't return to her Northeast Seattle home until 4 p.m. the next day. She discovered that not only had her roommate moved out of the house, he'd taken over $4,500 worth of her stuff with him including a her living room set, her lawn furniture, various linens, Christmas decorations, a computer, a tent, and her "Life" board game.

West Nile in Ballard?

At 6:33 p.m. on Sunday., Aug. 18, police received a report from an anonymous male caller of someone shooting a rifle into the street from the porch of a Ballard home. Police responded to the scene and contacted two man at the house in question.

One of the suspects, a man in his 30s who doesn't live at that residence, said he bought the pellet gun to shoot crows in his neighborhood. He said he is afraid to catch the West Nile Virus and wants to "take out" the crows before they start spreading the disease. Both men admitted firing the gun.

The men were informed that it is illegal to shoot any type of weapon, pellet gun or otherwise, within the Seattle city limits. Police requested the City Attorney's office review the case and file charges for discharging a firearm.

Arson spree:

At 4:07 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 18, police responded to a report of arson at a Broadview area apartment building along Greenwood Avenue N. Small fires had damaged the building's fence in two separate locations as well as two large recycling bins and a red Toyota parked in the building's lot. A witness, a man in his 30s, who had been in the area earlier that morning said that around 3:50 a.m. He saw man in an orange t-shirt with "long, scraggly hair" and a "medium to thick" build walking along Greenwood Avenue. The wittiness watched the scraggly-haired man until he "disappeared" behind a fence. The man then reappeared and the wittiness watched him until he reached the driveway of the apartment building.

The clerk at a convenience store near where one of the fires were started was contacted but he had not seen anyone fitting the suspect's description. A K-9 unit attempted to track the suspect but was unsuccessful.

Later on that Sunday, at 9:39 p.m., a man in his 40's noticed a Ford Focus, on fire, parked near that same apartment building. Apparently, the fire had been started when an arsonist lit a rag or piece of paper which was stuck in the gas tank. The Focus sustained $5,000 worth of burn damage.

Satisfied customer - not!

On Saturday, Aug. 17 at around 6 p.m., a couple went to a North Seattle car dealership to purchase a vehicle. While in the office finalizing the deal, an employee explained the importance of giving the dealership high marks on the "Customer Satisfaction Sheet." The husband responded by telling the employee that he did not intend to give the dealership a good review.

A verbal argument ensued with the employee telling the husband that he had been a difficult customer from the start and that "the deal was off if he could not give the dealership excellent marks."

The husband reacted by taking papers from the desk, crumpling them and throwing them at the dealership's sales personnel. The husband then screamed at dealership employees, calling them cowards and saying the situation was "bullshit." The altercation escalated when the husband chest-butted a dealership employee. Upon being told to calm down, the husband threw a set of keys at one of the salespeople (he missed and the keys hit the wall).

The husband was told to leave the premises. When the couple walked through the showroom on their way out, the husband yelled to other customers: "Don't do business here." The wife also told a customer, "Don't buy from them, you will not be treated right."

According to an employee, the husband then began to scream obscenities at the employee's boss. The husband was threatened with a citizen's arrest. Officers responding to the scene said they received conflicting reports from all parties involved.

The wife later told police that the staff were "like snakes" and that they had pressured her husband to lie. The couple said they feared if they left the showroom they would be jumped by the entire staff.

"This was a tough deal," an employee told police. "We were not going to make any money off this deal and it is not worth a bad rating so I told him the deal was off and I have the right to refuse business. We like to have satisfied customers."

Robbery easily discouraged:

At 5:10 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, a man in his 40s walked up to a teller in a Wedgwood Bank and handed her a note which read, "this is a robbery. Give me all your hundreds and fifties." The teller, a woman, also in her 40s, said, "you've got to be kidding."

"Are you serious?" the would-be robber asked. Apparently discouraged by the teller's response to his request, the man crumpled his note and put it in this pocket. He then left through the front door and was last seen headed east.

The bank's security video was turned over to police. An area check for the suspect turned up negative.

Grinches in Roosevelt:

On Monday, Aug. 19 at 12:05 a.m. a man in his 40s looked out the window of his Roosevelt home to see that two or three persons in a car outside his house had stolen a child's playhouse and scooter from his front yard. They also tried to take a lawn chair but ended up leaving it on the sidewalk. The suspects fled - although they were observed to make one more pass by the house before leaving thea.