West Seattle Crime Watch: Rock-throwing thief steals smartphone

West Seattle Crime Watch reports have included more than a few smartphone thefts, but never one quite like this. It’s believed someone threw a rock through a window in order to steal an iPhone – whose owner was asleep right next to it. According to the Seattle Police report summary, this happened early Sunday morning on 28th SW in Sunrise Heights. The victim said she had been sleeping on a couch when a football-size rock smashed through the window directly above her. She ran to check on the three young children who also were home; they were OK, so she went to get her phone to make a call – and couldn’t find it. She told police it had been plugged in to charge, on the edge of the couch, under the window. Glass from the broken window cut her hands and legs, so Seattle Fire responded for medical aid. Police had already been called by a neighbor who heard the breaking glass followed by the victim’s scream. Turns out the rock had been picked up from right outside the house, where it was used as a doorstop. The victim and police deduced the phone had been stolen once they tried to call it and found it was going immediately to voicemail; its owner said that’s not the way it was set when she had plugged it in. Police did not find the rock-throwing thief/thieves.

7 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Rock-throwing thief steals smartphone"

  • JayDee August 27, 2014 (5:53 pm)

    Too bad bricking phones remotely isn’t yet a common option. At least the rock didn’t hit her. I’ll hope for bad Karma.

  • G August 27, 2014 (7:48 pm)

    Just unbelievable.

  • pamela August 28, 2014 (5:01 am)

    What an odd story. Not saying it didn’t happen as described just sounds so bizarre.

  • sophista-tiki August 28, 2014 (7:06 am)

    Thats beyond bold. Can’t even take a nap in your own living room without being cased for something someone else wants to take from you. What exactly is it going to take for something to be done about the property crime around here.

  • Wendell August 28, 2014 (7:37 am)

    The trash in West Seattle keeps on piling up to new heights.

  • G August 28, 2014 (10:28 am)

    Property crime in Seattle is TWICE what it is in Los Angeles (source: Scout). As someone who lives in both cities, I can tell you it is not simply a matter of more reporting. I don’t know what the breakdown per neighborhood is, but I’m clumping Seattle together. My elderly mother lives alone in a supposedly nice part of West Seattle and has had sketchy characters come to her front door. I don’t know whether it is this very odd Seattle nonchalance, the police, or something else. Isn’t safety the primary concern for everyone???

  • McGruff August 28, 2014 (10:32 pm)

    G – My own theory is that this has a lot to do with Seattle’s particular brand of liberalism (don’t get me wrong; I do consider myself progressive, but in a ‘pro-personal responsibility’ kind of way). We have been ‘brainwashed’ (too strong a term, but I don’t have my thesaurus handy for a better way to put it) to regard pretty much any sketchy character as ‘homeless’ and as such, a sort of Urban Martyr who should be pitied, indulged, and under no circumstances held to the same standards of conduct we are held to.
    .
    This is why vagrant camps, whether they be is nameless greenbelts or Westlake Square, are treated as urban ‘Pietas’ and the behavior of drunks, druggies, wierdos, and thugs are tolerated, lest we be accused of waging a ‘war on the poor’
    .
    Bottom line: not every vagrant is a hapless victim of the times; many of society’s predators are among them. Learn to differentiate and treat each accordingly, or bear the consequences.
    .
    Just sayin’…

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