Quick shoutout in honor of a West Seattleite’s fast action after a collision involving a police officer: You might have heard about what Michael Katz did when he saw a driver hit a Seattle Police motorcycle officer in SODO yesterday – as explained in the SPD Blotter summary, “A man ran over to our officer and notified dispatch by using the officer’s radio. His quick-thinking and calm demeanor alerted officers to the situation and sped up emergency response.” A WSB reader tipped us later that the man was a West Seattleite, and we made contact with Katz today to confirm. No, he’s never used a radio like that before, he told us, but “they’re pretty user-friendly.” P.S.: We have an inquiry out to SPD to ask how the officer is doing.

(Photos by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
At Don Armeni Boat Ramp this morning, Seattle Police were with Ballard Marine Construction, the company that owns the boat that capsized off Constellation Park in a Friday gale (WSB coverage here), examining it:

The overturned boat was towed to Don Armeni late yesterday, hours after the Seattle Fire and Police Departments and U.S. Coast Guard teamed up for the rescue effort. Three crew members survived; the man described by SFD spokesperson Kyle Moore as the boat’s captain did not. Today, our partners at The Seattle Times report that the King County Medical Examiner’s Office is identifying him as 40-year-old Anthony Collins of Port Orchard. He was found in the boat’s cabin more than half an hour after it flipped, according to Moore, and flown by helicopter to Harborview Medical Center after SFD divers got him out. The three survivors, taken ashore by the Coast Guard and then transported to HMC, were described as being in satisfactory condition.

Diving was part of today’s work at Don Armeni; from the lookout north of the ramp, communications equipment connected to someone underwater was visible on the dock, and audible. Another salvage service was on hand too.

According to a comment on our Friday coverage, the crew’s survey work was related to a King County outfall in the area. The county has a stormwater-treatment plant across Beach Drive from Constellation Park. BMC’s website lists numerous local public-sector projects with which it has worked, including the South Park Bridge and Highway 99 tunnel.

In case you wondered what the Seattle Police SWAT team was doing near 42nd and Oregon tonight – no, there’s no crime, no standoff, no warrant service. They’re training at houses that will be torn down for the 78-unit Junction Flats apartment project in the 4400 block of 42nd SW. The daylight photo is courtesy of Jason:

Kitty corner from this site, where the Oregon 42 apartment building is almost complete, the SWAT team trained at then-to-be-demolished homes a year and a half ago.

(P.S. Thanks to the parent from Hope Lutheran across the street who gave us heads-up after a note from the school mentioned this training was scheduled.)

*EDITOR’S NOTE: While this was published Tuesday night, you can still get the NEWEST results at any point afterward, by clicking the headline for each race*

8:39 PM UPDATE: We’re adding numbers to this story now; meantime, the headline for each race links to its designated results page on the King County Elections website:

KING COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Dow Constantine 78 percent
Alan Lobdell 22 percent

*Note: This is the largest victory margin ever for a County Executive, reports Constantine, who tweeted:

I thank the voters for their overwhelming endorsement of our work to reform KC government and put it back on sound financial footing. -DC

— Dow Constantine (@kcexec) November 6, 2013

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD POSITION 4
Suzanne Dale Estey 48 percent
Sue Peters 51 percent

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD POSITION 5
Stephan Blanford 88 percent
LaCrese Green 12 percent

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 1
John Creighton 69 percent
Pete Lewis 31 percent

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 2
Courtney Gregoire 83 percent
John Naubert 17 percent

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 3
Stephanie Bowman 70 percent
Michael Wolfe 29 percent

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 4
Tom Albro 58 percent
Richard Pope 42 percent

After tonight’s one batch of King County results, the next one isn’t due out until late Wednesday afternoon.

Congratulations to Ken Wicklund, honored by the Seattle Police Foundation as Community Member of the Year! We were there as he received the award Friday night at the SPF’s 12th annual Police Awards Banquet; he is second from left in our photo. It was almost a year ago that he noticed police scuffling with a suspect in an incident near the old Charlestown Café site; he jumped in to help. Shortly thereafter, he was honored at the precinct (WSB coverage here); Captain Steve Paulsen, who was Southwest Precinct commander when the incident happened, nominated Ken, writing “…It is people like Kenneth who make the City of Seattle a greater community for all. On behalf of the men and women of the Seattle Police Department, thanks for coming to the aid of officers.”

Two other West Seattle civilians in the spotlight Friday night were there to help thank police for what they do:

Karen Berge (left) and Deb Greer from the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network were two of the community members featured in a video – and then “live” – with signs of support for SPD. The SPF video, shown at the banquet, also included WS Block Watch Captains Nancy Calos-Nakano, Mayo Ochiltree, Ron Oldham, and JoDean Edelheit.

The Southwest Precinct Officer of the Year, also honored at the banquet, is Willie Askew (photo at left is courtesy the SPD Photo Unit), honored for “a high level of knowledge, compassion for fellow officers and citizens, and a general command of the job of a police officer.” In particular, Officer Askew was singled out for his work during an incident last January in which an armed man described as “distraught” drove his van up to the gate at the precinct; the situation was defused without anyone being hurt. Also honored for his work during the incident, Officer Greg Traver, who received a Medal of Courage.

P.S. The Seattle Police Foundation, which presents the Awards Banquet, is a nonprofit organization whose president/CEO, Renée Hopkins, is a West Seattleite.

10:32 PM: Thanks for the tips/questions regarding a sizable police/fire presence on the south side of Roxhill Park, near the Westwood Heights building on Roxbury. Police on the scene told us they are still trying to sort out who did what to who; according to radio communications monitored before we got there, a man in his mid-20s was found unconscious and was believed to have been repeatedly kicked in the head. Medics planned to take him to Harborview Medical Center. We’ll be following up to find out more about the circumstances and whether anyone was arrested.

UPDATE, 11:11 AM TUESDAY: Just received the report on this, after requesting it from SPD. It says police were called by someone who reported they had heard “there was possibly an assault, and the victim was possibly dead.” On arrival, officers found the victim on his back in the parking lot west of Westwood Heights, bleeding, going in and out of consciousness. Witnesses told conflicting stories of what had happened – one said they saw a group of teens kicking the victim, another said they heard “sounds of fighting” and saw three adults. Police weren’t able to find any potential suspects in the area. The victim is described in the report as having been in critical condition when taken to the hospital.

Police are not commenting, so we don’t know if these are related, but there have been at least two high-profile arrests in West Seattle this afternoon, and we’ve received lots of messages about them, so here’s what little we know: Above is a photo we took about an hour and a half ago at 24th and Barton, where we had gone after a tip that Seattle Police SWAT officers had been trying to get somebody to come out – we’ve blurred the suspect’s face because we have no idea if he is charged with a crime. Police on the scene would confirm only that it was related to a warrant, and that’s all the information we’ve been able to get so far.

Earlier on Alki:

That’s one of several photos tweeted to us with reports of SWAT officers arresting or detaining someone in the 2700 block of Alki SW. Tipster Scott says an officer at the scene told him it was a “drug bust”; we haven’t been able to get any comment from police at all, but will keep trying to follow up.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Police tell us the man arrested at Pegasus was one of two brothers arrested yesterday, “part of an on-going investigation that began back in March.” We’re told the other one was arrested in Magnolia, so we still don’t know if the Westwood arrest had anything to do with the same case.

Saw the response at California/Admiral about an hour ago but couldn’t get to it because our crew was checking out something on the other side of the peninsula – so we appreciate this report and photo from Ted Johnson:

Pedestrian car accident … 10:15 AM at the Adm. Junction. Pedestrian [adult male] walked away from this. Officer said he’s lucky to be alive. He just caved in the windshield when he ran across the street and was struck by this vehicle. Driver rather shaken up.

No official details at this point.

We have just confirmed that Seattle Police are investigating a reported child-luring attempt in West Seattle. We found out about it thanks to a Hope Lutheran School parent who late last night forwarded us a parent alert sent by the school on Wednesday:

Yesterday afternoon around 3:40 PM, a Hope female student was walking along Oregon Street between 41st Ave. and 42nd Ave., heading to her car while her mother was inside the school office. A male driver pulled over in his car and told her he was supposed to pick her up and take her home. The student immediately ran away and back to her mother. The police were contacted by the mother at home but we don’t have a lot of details besides the fact that it was a male driver. …

We contacted SPD this morning to ask for a copy of the report, which we have just received. It says the student who reported this is 10 years old. The officer talked with her at her family’s home and later wrote:

Somewhere between the hours of 1530-1600 [on Tuesday, October 1, the child] was walking along SW Oregon between 42nd SW and 41st when she heard a voice from a car parked along the north side of the street.

[The child] said she heard a male voice from inside the car call out to her saying, ‘Hey little girl, come get in the car with me. I’ll take you home.’ [The child] told me that she stated ‘No’ to the male and ran down the hill to her mother’s car, locking herself inside. [The child] said she told her mother about the incident just a few minutes later when she came out to the car.

[The mother] told me that she walked back the same route [the child] had gone and saw no one unusual.

According to the report, the child was unable to provide any description of the man or the vehicle, saying that she only heard his voice. There is no indication whether this has any link to the as-yet-unsolved flasher incidents last month, two of which happened near Holy Rosary, which is one block north of Hope.

(P.S. Here’s the SPD page with information on safety advice for families, including what to teach kids about staying safe.)