Crime Watch: Safety alert after student approached; car prowl

| Crime | Safety | South Park | West Seattle news

Two Crime Watch notes this afternoon:

STUDENT APPROACHED: This happened in South Park, but the student attends Pathfinder K-8 in West Seattle, and the alert is being circulated among parents in both communities, so we were asked to share it:

My 14 year old daughter was approached by a man on Trenton Street while she walked to her school bus stop this morning. This guy obviously had no good intentions! My daughter describes him as Hispanic, thin with dark hair. His car was a gray 4-door sedan of an older (1990s) model. She believes that he was using or on some sort of substance.

His intent was to get her into his car!!! She avoided his questions, got to her bus stop and called the police. She has since given a statement to police (at her school) and her school has been made aware of what happened this morning.

I want to be clear: My daughter felt threatened by this man and that he was very intent on getting her alone. Please help keep an eye out for this person and help keep our kids safe!!!

Via Twitter, the police log indicates this was near 10th Avenue S./S. Trenton (here’s a map).

CAR PROWL: Two car prowls are on the police log so far this morning. One was reported in the 7300 block of Delridge Way, and we learned of the other one in this reader report from David:

My car was broken into in the Gatewood area just west of 35th sometime between 1100 PM and 0700 AM. A window was broken and some items removed. It has been reported to the police.

SPD shared car-prowl-prevention/deterrence advice a month ago; we published it then but it bears sharing again:

Pat March 4, 2015 (1:26 pm)

This news item reminds me of a question I’ve been meaning to ask: how do we define “valuables”? I never leave money, computers, etc. in my car. But what about the vehicle registration and insurance card? I leave those in the glove compartment because I thought we were required to have them there. Are these considered “valuables” that would be tempting for someone to steal?

WSB March 4, 2015 (1:42 pm)

Short word, yes. Carry them in your wallet/purse instead. Police have been fairly adamant about not leaving ANYTHING in the car. One recent report we published featured prowlers apparently enticed by the empty grocery bags in the back of one vehicle.