Topping our latest review of reports from the Southwest Precinct, quick-thinking workers and fast-responding officers saved the life of an 84-year-old woman at the Daystar center across from Westwood Village. It happened at 2:44 am Thursday morning; the woman’s 46-year-old granddaughter showed up to see her, and things took a terrifying turn very fast. Daystar employees heard screams and called 911. Officers say they found the granddaughter holding her grandmother down on a bed with one hand while the other was raised high above her head, holding a claw hammer. They demanded – at gunpoint – that the woman drop the hammer; she didn’t, but she did lower it to her side. They told her again to drop it; though she still didn’t, they managed to get it away from her and arrest her without having to use potentially deadly force. The victim is quoted as telling police afterward, “She was going to kill me — I begged her not to do it — I could tell she wanted to kill me … I thought I was going to die, I didn’t think anyone would help me, I didn’t think you could get here in time.” The suspect has a history of mental illness and drug abuse, and admitted to police she had imbibed a “large quantity of Everclear” that night. She also has a heart problem and had to be taken to the hospital; she was booked into jail later that morning and is still there at this writing, facing possible charges of assault and harassment. Next: Yet another car prowl …

In addition to the reader reports we’ve posted in the past few days (linked from the Crime Watch page), there’s a police report for a car prowl in the 3900 block of Othello sometime between 9 o’clock last night and 5:30 this morning. The victim told police about $30 in change was taken from his car, which he believes he had left unlocked.

BRAZEN GROPER: A 19-year-old woman told police this attack happened while she was walking right past the Southwest Precinct on Webster west of Delridge around 9:30 last night. She had just gotten off a bus at Delridge and Webster. A man ran up behind her, grabbed her by the waist, and put his hands down the back of her pants; she fell down but managed to push him away, and he ran. She didn’t see him well enough for a good description; police found a possible suspect nearby, but she couldn’t positively identify him.

MOTEL RIPOFF: At West Seattle’s only motel, in the 3500 block of SW Alaska, a difficult customer may have created a diversion that enabled a theft. While dealing with a customer complaint, a desk clerk left the office unattended for just a few minutes; that was enough time for someone to force open a drawer and make off with almost $400 cash as well as $35 in phone cards.

STORE ALMOST RIPPED OFF: Good thing a check-cashing store checked on a check that a woman tried to cash Thursday afternoon; it turned out to be stolen. They know who the woman is, too. They told police she came in with a $2,368 check from a sewing company in Tukwila; when they said they’d have to call the company to verify, she got nervous and went outside saying she was going to find a related pay stub, but she never came back, and in the meantime, the sewing company told them it was one of seven checks stolen from them.

NOT A GOOD PLACE TO LEAVE YOUR CAR: Just before 8 o’clock last night, police got two calls about a car hitting a tree in the 800 block of SW Kenyon. One was from a witness; the other from a woman who said she’d been “driving around” with the guy who hit the tree, and that he had been smoking drugs and driving erratically. When police arrived, they not only found the car up on a planting strip — having hit shrubs, trees, and a fence — they also found the 47-year-old driver walking in the middle of the street nearby. It took them a while to get him to understand that he needed to stop and talk with them. Tests showed he wasn’t drunk, but they found crack cocaine in his pocket. The report says he admitted to them he was a recently relapsed drug addict.

ONE MORE NOTE: This isn’t from a Seattle Police report – it’s apparently a King County Sheriff’s Office case; KING5.com reports thieves stole hundreds of gallons of fuel from the Shell station on Roxbury.

As we always remind you – don’t hesitate to call police when you see or hear something suspicious, and of course when you believe a crime has been (or is being) committed. In addition to 911, there’s a non-emergency line at 206/625-5011. A big collection of Seattle Police crime-prevention resources is linked from the Southwest Precinct’s Crime Prevention page. Previous WSB police-report coverage is archived on our Crime Watch page.