West Seattle Crime Watch: ‘Pretty strange’; seeking witnesses

Hannah acknowledges that the circumstances of her story regarding an acquaintance victimized by a thief are “pretty strange,” but she’s sharing it to ask if any witnesses are out there. Read on:

I wanted to submit my account of a pretty strange crime that happened to an acquaintance in the Junction neighborhood last night, April 30.

My friends were at the Taco Truck Challenge down at south Lake Union yesterday afternoon, and one guy (let’s call him Sam), got way too drunk and passed out in the car on the way back to my apartment on 38th Ave SW at about 8pm, where my birthday BBQ was under way. My friends let him sleep it off and came in to my party.

Later, past midnight, Sam woke up and was trying to find where everyone went. He figured we’d be out at a bar and was walking around the Junction/Triangle area when a friendly man came up to him and offered help. Sam says he was a shorter guy, maybe about 5 foot 7 or so, of Middle Eastern or Hispanic descent. They were walking around together looking for my friends, and the guy started going through Sam’s pockets. Sam was still drunk and didn’t protest too much because he was afraid he’d get in a physical fight, so the guy took his cell phone and wallet.

The man steered Sam around to a couple ATM’s in the area and tried to get him to take money out, and asked him to take him to Sam’s car. Sam didn’t comply and asked for his stuff back. He got his phone back, but the guy took out Sam’s ID, debit card, and $40 cash before giving the wallet back. Sam said he was going to call the police if he didn’t get the ID and debit card back and started calling the police.

While he was talking with the dispatcher, the guy ran off. They were near the 7-Eleven on 35th and Avalon. This morning Sam got a call from his bank saying that someone had tried to take out $300 at one ATM and $80 at another. Sam talked with the police this morning, but couldn’t give them much more information that what I’ve written here. Obviously I don’t think the vast majority of WSB readers would be so dumb as to walk around late at night drunk, by themselves, letting someone rifle through their pockets. But maybe someone saw something that might give the police a lead. Thanks!

3 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: 'Pretty strange'; seeking witnesses"

  • marty May 1, 2011 (3:19 pm)

    I hope your friend uses that as a “learning experience”. It could have been a lot worse…

  • KRM May 1, 2011 (8:20 pm)

    Well put Marty. It could have easily been much worse.

  • Westsider May 2, 2011 (5:15 pm)

    This is very common and is termed “getting rolled”. While we shouldn’t condone it or blame the victim, it does only happen to people who get very drunk and then wander around out in public. Not sure if this guy would have preferred a “drunk and disorderly” arrest from the police?

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