Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 4, April 2003

Copyright 2003 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

Needs that coffee:

On Friday, March 7, just after 6:30 p.m., workers were getting ready to open an Aurora Avenue coffee shop when a man in his 40s started pounding on the front door, rattling the door knob and screaming at the employees inside. The employees recognized the man and had seen him behave strangely (but not violently) in the past.

When someone opened the door to explain that the cafe was not open for business yet, the suspect walked in and demanded to know what was taking so long. He seemed angry and irrational. Finally, one of the workers put his hand on the suspect's shoulder and calmly told him to go. The suspect responded by punching the male worker on the left side of his face, knocking him to the ground.

The suspect then turned his attention to a female worker who was dialing 911. He was kicking, yelling and throwing his arms around. When the woman pulled some mace out of her pocket to protect herself, the suspect became even more enraged. He pulled a full bottle of syrup out of a rack and began holding it like a bat, threatening the employees. Then he hurled the syrup at the front counter. The bottle broke covering the counter and register is syrup. He then went out to parking lot where he threw rocks at cars and the building. Finally, he left.

Officers checked the area and the suspect's residence, but couldn't locate him.

FBI or FB-sly?

On Tuesday, March 18, a man who appeared to be in his 30s took a food item from a Northgate Mall shop and walked out without paying for it. The store manager ran after him. When confronted, the suspect gave back the item and said he was from the FBI and was just checking their loss-prevention procedures.

Mall security officers arrived on the scene and told the manager to go back to his store and call the police. However, when the police followed up with mall security, they were told the suspect had been let go because mall employees are not allowed to detain shoplifters.

Pants full of loot:

On Sunday, March 16, at about 4 p.m., the alarm went off at a Greenwood video store. The manager confronted the man at the entrance (a middle-aged male) who immediately handed her a DVD and said, "Here, I forgot this." However, the manager could see that the suspect had his pants stuffed with DVDs in fact they were so full he could barely walk.

The manager demanded that the suspect return the rest of the DVDs. In response, the suspect pushed passed her and out the door. Another store employee followed the suspect into a nearby parking lot, but he gave up the pursuit because workers are not allowed to use force to stop shoplifters. The manager told police that she recognized the suspect and that he had done the same thing the week before. She promised to provide the police with the video from the store's security camera as well as a list of the DVDs that were taken.

And on a school night!

Just after 11 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, an officer responded complaints about noise at a University District fraternity house. The house had already been warned once about noise that evening. Inside were 300 revelers dancing, yelling, and generally having an unusual amount of fun for a school night. They were contained behind a fence that had been enclosed in black plastic.

Inside was a 30-foot-wide by 40-foot-high movie screen playing what appeared to be music videos. There was also a large foam machine.

The officer spoke to the president of the fraternity and told him that the party would have to be shut down in five minutes or he would be arrested.

Five minutes later, the situation had not improved. The president asked for more options. The officer told him there were none, other than ending the party. A few minutes later, the fraternity president returned with two more men. They again began questioning the officer's decision.

Finally, believing the boys were stalling, the officer took the fraternity president into custody and called for back up to disperse the guests. Police got on the public address system and told everyone to go home.

The crowd booed and some yelled obscenities. One more arrest later, the soiree finally came to an end.

Greenwood crank caller:

Just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, a call was placed to 911 reporting a robbery in progress at a Greenwood bar. The caller said people were running from the building and that the suspect had a gun. Officers contacted the bar but were told that everything was fine.

A few minutes later, 911 received another call from the same cell phone. The male caller said, "Everyone was tied up," and then hung up.

Moments later, another call came in during which the caller said there was a robbery in progress at a local grocery store but he didn't know where he was. He sounded like he was crying.

Officers contacted grocers in the area and everyone reported business as usual. They tried to find out who owned the cell phone from which the calls were placed, but learned that the number had been disconnected and that the only call the phone would be able to place was to 911.

Prowler makes off with pump:

On Thursday, March 6, between 11 p.m. and midnight, a thief or thieves shattered the front passenger window of a Subaru station wagon parked in the U-District. They made off with a book of checks and a breast pump.

Bad guest in Ballard:

At 6 a.m. on Thursday, March 6, a man in his 40s left his Ballard apartment with two friends still passed out in the living room. He locked the door on his way out.

About six hours later, the man returned to find his door unlocked and both his DVD player and one of the friends gone. The other friend said he had been asleep and didn't see what happened.