West Seattle Crime Watch: Four reader reports

Four reader reports in West Seattle Crime Watch tonight – starting with Ryan‘s stolen car:

My 1997 Subaru Impreza 4 Dr. white with black trim was stolen from 41st and SW College at approximately 3AM January 31st. License #085-ZOS. The car has a npr and NW native art orca sticker on the back of the car. A police report has been filed.

Three more reports – a bride-to-be’s car break-in, doorstep grocery theft, and suspected car prowlers to LISTEN for – ahead:

As a bride-to-be, days away from her wedding, Kelly has enough to do without dealing with this:

I would like to report a car break-in on the 9900 block of 33rd Ave SW. My fiancé and I were woken up by the sound of a car alarm at 1 am this morning and when he went outside to check it out he did not see any suspicious activity. When I woke up and got to my car to go to the gym, the whole driver’s side window was broken out. It looks like the thief (or thieves) got scared away because they rummaged through the console but it looks like that’s about as far as they got, and they did not take anything. A reminder to not leave ANYTHING in your car – I had a jacket, car charger and a Joann Fabrics bag – much more than I usually have out – so I assume they thought I had something of value. This is particularly irritating because we’re getting married next weekend, and replacing a window is not cheap!

Tonight, we received this from Amanda:

Just wanted to give a heads up to other West Seattle residents. I get my food from AmazonFresh on a regular basis and today my groceries were stolen. My coolers and 3 bags were delivered at 4:20 am and when my boyfriend went out to bring them in shortly after 6 am the only item left was the cooler. When I contacted AmazonFresh it seemed like this was a regular occurrence, they were great and replaced my groceries by tonight! My door is tucked away from the road and not visible from the street, so I am guessing either someone was following the delivery truck or happened upon the delivery and snagged them while myself and my neighbors were sleeping. I live on the 5200 block of Delridge Way SW.

And from Aaron:

Just wanted to pass along this info about a incident here in W.S. over the weekend. A white van with very squeaky brakes came through our neighborhood about 3am early Sunday morning twice, we noticed it because of the loud brakes and did not recognize it as belonging to anyone in our neighborhood. They first drove through as if lost. The second time they came through we watched them thinking it was suspicious but we lost sight of them and did not see them exit the neighborhood. In the morning we found out a few vehicles in our neighborhood had been broken into, windows smashed and items stolen. We know it was around the same time as when the van was present because one neighbor was awoken by his car alarm at approx. 3 a.m.

Please be on the lookout, you can’t miss the sound of the brakes, it’s very high-pitched.

P.S. We also just noticed this – a car-vandalism spree early today has been reported by Beach Drive Blog.

20 Replies to "West Seattle Crime Watch: Four reader reports"

  • RenaissanceRed January 31, 2012 (9:19 pm)

    this is just disheartening…all of us depend on our vehicles. I hope everyone keeps a keen watch in their neighborhoods. Never leave anything in your car that is in plain sight.

    My mother had her old truck broken into and all they took were some loose change from the ashtray and some cassette tapes. Apparently, all it takes is ‘something’ left in view for them to break in.

    Sorry for everyone’s loss…hopefully reporting it here will make us all more aware of suspicious activity.

  • KMK January 31, 2012 (9:21 pm)

    I’d be interested to hear what part of WS “Aaron” lives in. I live just south of the Junction and woke up Saturday morning to find my car’s front windshield absolutely shattered. I had nothing of value in the car, not even a bag or something that would lead someone to believe there was anything of value to be found. It took a lot to do this damage AND my car was parked off the main street in a lot off an alley. While I haven’t seen this particular van Aaron speaks of, the time is not even 24 hours off and it is not unusual to see suspicious vehicles in the alley near where I live.

  • Rosanne January 31, 2012 (10:28 pm)

    Kelly~ talk to your car insurance company about having the window replaced. My car was broken into while I was at church once & insurance took care of the whole thing.

  • JL January 31, 2012 (10:58 pm)

    Another report for you: Seattle police just arrested a man at the corner of 47th and Lander. I have no idea what happened, but whatever it was it apparently took at least 10 officers to handle the situation.
    .
    I couldn’t quite hear what was being discussed before they put him in the police car, but whatever the man was saying must have been obviously ridiculous, given that the officers were openly mocking his responses and laughing at him. C’mon, Seattle Police, is the dickishness really called for? It only reminded me of the officers mocking the gentleman who was critically injured a few weeks back after he was hit by a truck while running.

  • coffee February 1, 2012 (7:09 am)

    Check your insurance coverage, glass coverage is really inexpensive, I think I pay 11.00 per 6 months and I have had to use it 2 times, not because of break-ins rather rocks on the freeways.

  • hopey February 1, 2012 (7:26 am)

    I would guess the activity at 47th & Lander is related to the bail bond activity at that location over the weekend. The suspect got away at that time, but was known to be living or spending time with someone nearby. You can read the police report online by finding a link on the Online Crime Map at http://web5.seattle.gov/mnm/policereports.aspx . It’s interesting reading. :)

  • sophista-tiki February 1, 2012 (9:18 am)

    My truck used to get proweled on a regular basis, I never lock it because I dont want something broken that i cant aford to replace. I park in my driveway and not on the street. Up until last summer my drivers side door handle needed to be replaced as it would not open from the inside, you needed to open the window and use the handle from the outside. and you cant open the window without the ignition key. So sometime in the middle of the night some turd decided my truck was their target, they very quietly opened the door, and promptly got themselves stuck inside, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA REVENGE!!!

  • marty February 1, 2012 (10:59 am)

    JL: Big difference between mocking a criminal and mocking someone who has been injured. Crooks do not deserve respect. They were just laughing at him, not beating him. Sheesh!

  • Rhonda Porter February 1, 2012 (11:11 am)

    latest estimates are about 10 cars had their windows smashed with some having items stolen on Beach Drive that night… our cars were included :(

  • Kelly February 1, 2012 (11:24 am)

    Thanks for the tips everyone. Unfortunately my Geico coverage does not include glass insurance. Coffee, what company do you insure with? $11 every 6 months is a great deal! Fortunately we were able to find a pretty good deal to replace it. Rhonda, I’m sorry to hear about you car and others along Beach Drive. They must have been out in full-force last night as three other cars’ windows were smashed on our street. Keep your eyes out everyone and let’s catch these cowards!

  • kim February 1, 2012 (11:26 am)

    Aaron- which neighborhood was this in? I noticed a beat-up white van parked in front of my house Thursday night and it was still there when I left for work Friday. I took down the license plate, but didn’t have time to do anything else. I’m in the 5600 block of 44th Ave. SW.

  • SR February 1, 2012 (11:33 am)

    Interesting but the 47th and Lander incident involves a van too.

  • JL February 1, 2012 (11:38 am)

    Marty: Correction — “alleged” crooks (remember “innocent until proven guilty in a court of law”?).
    .
    I realize that cops regularly deal with stupid people acting like jerks. But i don’t see any call for dishing that sort of behavior back to the person, other than to try and escalate the situation and get them to either say something that will incriminate themselves, or to get them to try and assault one of the officers (one, so they can add that charge, and two, so they can have a legal excuse to beat the crap out of them).

  • JL February 1, 2012 (12:22 pm)

    Hopey: Thanks for posting the link to the police report. Based on what I could make out from what was being said last night, the report does sound like the two incidences are related. I’ll have to keep my eye out for the follow-up report from last night.

  • D-Mom February 1, 2012 (2:12 pm)

    My neighbors have reported a white van casing several homes in the Arbor Heights neighborhood since around Christmas time. 2 neighbors saw this van sitting in front of my house on 102nd St. Not sure about any window bashing though.

    Love the revenge of the criminal getting stuck inside the van!

  • kim February 1, 2012 (3:34 pm)

    I will report the license plate number I took down to the authorities just in case….

  • Block Watcher February 1, 2012 (7:11 pm)

    There is a white Ford van, along with the white Mazda MVP minivan mentioned in the article at http://web5.seattle.gov/mnm/policereports.aspx that are frequently in the 47th & Lander area. Both are linked to suspsicous activity on this block, but neither vehicles belong to residents here. They are parked on the street (or in the alley) at unusual times like before 5am…really creepy.

  • Aaron February 1, 2012 (10:34 pm)

    I looked out my window at about 10:30 pm last night to find two thieves inside my car. I called the police but they weren’t able to track them down.

    This happened about a month ago as well (although that time I didn’t see them doing it).

  • Wes C. Addle February 2, 2012 (9:32 am)

    I’ve noticed a lot of broken glass that looks like automobile glass on 41st ave between Oregon and Alaska. So potentially keep an eye on your vehicle if you park there. I haven’t seen any reported cases from there, just an observation.

  • Snoopy February 18, 2012 (7:25 am)

    I live between SW Edmunds St and SW Findlay St, (sorry not good with directions.) This morning around 5:30am while leaving for work I noticed a suspicious white male early 30’s black leather jacket, blue navy pants and navy blue beanie. Very suspicious looking around and have never seen him around the neighborhood. He made a couple turns down an alley and proceeded west towards California. I’m posting this due to the to the increasing number of car prowlers in the neighborhood and the recent post’s matching the same description of the suspect. Be on the look out WS!

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