Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 7, July 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

Menacing driver:

At noon on Saturday, June 14, two women in their 30s returned to their Ballard home. They were exiting their vehicle when a black pickup truck careened around the corner at high speed, and nearly struck one of the women (who was walking with the aid of a cane.)

The second woman gave a middle-finger salute to the truck as it drove off.

The finger didn't go unnoticed. The truck's driver, a man in his 30s, backed up along side the women's car.

"That's not a polite way to wave," he said.

Still shaken, the woman with the cane responded, "you need to (expletive deleted) slow down."

Then the suspect leaned out his window and spit in her face. The woman raised her cane and struck the bed of the truck.

The suspect let loose a torrent of profanity, saying, "I know where you live" and "do you want me to get out and cut both your heads off?"

A neighbor also heard the man screaming and came out to investigate. When one of the women yelled for the neighbor to call the police, the suspect drove off.

Police spotted the black truck while doing an area check. An officer spoke to the registered owner of the truck, who said the suspect had come home angry and told her two women had flipped him off. The suspect told the truck owner that he'd backed the truck up and asked the women, "Don't you think that's a stupid thing to do to someone who can kick your ass?" The suspect also told the truck owner that the woman had hit the truck with her cane and thrown food at the truck. (The officer did notice a clump of food on the driver's side door.)

Police returned to the home at 2:30 p.m. to interview the suspect. He said he spit in the woman's face only after she caned his pick-up.

Unable to verify the finer points of the incident with an independent witness, the police decided not to make an arrest. However, as the officer left the scene he was told by another neighbor who said the

suspect was known to speed and harass other residents.

More driving mayhem:

At approximately 7:50 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, a woman in her early 20s parked her car near NE 47th Street and University Way. A black Volkswagen was stopped next to the car she parked behind.

Upon seeing the woman settle into the spot, the Volkswagen driver (a woman of the same age) got out of her car and started arguing with the first woman over the parking space.

When the first woman declined to move, the Volkswagen driver became angry. She returned to her car, put it in reverse, and backed into the first woman's vehicle. Then she drove off.

The responding officer found a local address for the Volkswagen driver and went to question the suspect. He was told the suspect no longer lived there, but that she would be dropping by shortly. The officer waited.

The suspect showed up just before 10 p.m. At first, the woman pretended she didn't know what the officer was talking about. She finally admitted she had been at the scene, but said she didn't hit the victim's car.

The officer saw several areas of possible damage on the Volkswagen, but also noted that the car was dirty and that none of the dirt had been disturbed. Nevertheless, he advised the suspect that criminal charges might be filed against her.

Burglary averted?

On Friday, June 13 at 8:30 p.m., a man drove up to his friends' Wallingford house. No one was home, so he decided to wait.

The man was sitting across the street from the house in his car when he saw a red Honda car pass by. It made an abrupt U-turn and parked. A heavy-set woman with blond, curly hair was driving, accompanied by a scruffy-looking male passenger, who appeared to be in his 20s, and who sported a ponytail.

The male suspect got out of the car and knocked on the door of the house. The suspect then returned to the car.

After a brief discussion with the woman, the male suspect went back up to the house. The witness observed the suspect climb up on the porch railing to look through the windows. The suspect opened the bathroom window, pushing the screen in and knocking several items to the floor.

The male suspect then realized that he was being watched (his activities were also observed by another man who was walking his dog). He got back in the car and he and his female companion left the scene.

A resident of the house spoke to police the next day. She said that the same window had been tampered with a week earlier, on June 6.

Sweet payoff:

Just before 1 a.m. on Sunday, June 15, an officer was driving through Northeast Seattle when he noticed a youngish man in a yellow windbreaker carrying two white, plastic bags. He also heard what sounded like an alarm coming from a nearby coffee shop.

Arriving at the scene, the officer noticed that a windowpane had been removed. Inside, he found that the cash register had been completely cleaned out and that an entire tray of cinnamon rolls was missing. The suspect had also apparently eaten four rolls while still on the scene.

Police did find fingerprints on the window, though the report doesn't mention whether or not they were sticky and sweet.

Hammering threats home:

At 5:25 p.m. on Sunday, June 15, a man in his 50s returned to his University District apartment building to find a piece of paper with his first name on it hanging from the corner of the buzzer entry system.

Written on the inside were threats stating that an unknown suspect was going to come after the man "with a 25'ounce framing hammer." The note went on to say that the man should "watch his back" and that the attack

will happen when he "least expects it."

The man told police that he is involved in a dispute with a mental patient who, as it happened, is also a carpenter.

Here's gum in your eye:

On Sunday, June 15, at about 10:50 a.m., a man in his 30s was standing with a man in his 70s in a Northeast Seattle grocery store parking lot.

A man who appeared to be in his early 20s approached the pair.

"What the (expletive deleted) are you looking at, (expletive deleted)?," the suspect asked the older gentleman.

The younger man explained that his companion was partially blind and did not speak English. The suspect then threw his gum at them and got into his car, a beige Toyota. The two men told police that as they went to their own vehicle the suspect drove by them at high speed.