We’re still combing through the past week or so of reports filed and approved at the Southwest Precinct – read on for the noteworthy cases we’ve seen so far:

CHILDREN BEATEN: Police intervened in a disturbing case of child-beating in the 8400 block of 20th SW around 5 pm last Wednesday: The victims, five children ranging in age from 4 to 8. The suspects, who were arrested — two women ages 25 and 28. The report says the person who called police was on the brink of tears when explaining to the first officer to arrive that one of the suspects was “beating her children.” The officer reported he could hear screaming from four houses away. Once police went into the house and — after a confrontation with the women — separated the children from the adults, the children explained they had gotten in trouble for simulating sexual behavior they’d seen their mother engage in. The officer asked the children what happened when they got in trouble; they showed marks on their bodies, where they said they had been hit with belts or hangers, and been scratched by fingernails. The officer wrote, “As I searched all the children’s bodies for injuries, I had difficulty tracking all of them due to the numerous scars/bruising from old injuries that I located on almost every child.” The officer also noted the house was in disarray, and filthy. Police finally sorted out that the children belonged to two sisters (one of the suspects, plus a witness); the women’s parents agreed to take care of the children, at least temporarily.

WESTWOOD VILLAGE ROAD RAGE: A woman trying to drive into one of the Barton entrances of Westwood Village last Wednesday had to wait for traffic, and a man behind her started loudly honking his horn. Once they finally made it into the parking lot, she pulled into a parking space briefly to let him get around, but then wound up behind him again – and eventually the two started yelling at each other, escalating into him getting out of his car and coming over to hers. Finally this got to the point – despite a passenger in one car telling that car’s driver to calm down – that someone called police; the responding officer noted both people were still “agitated” when he arrived. No arrests; the officer filed a report and gave the number to both parties.

ATTEMPTED BURGLARY: Last Tuesday afternoon in the 700 block of SW Kenyon, a man came home to find two windows broken, apparently by someone who tried to break into the house (but failed). The broken windows tripped the home’s intrusion alarm, and the alarm company called police, but according to the police report, officers didn’t get word of it immediately because of an address confusion – the alarm company apparently called in about SOUTH Kenyon, not SW.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE …: A man who owns a home in the 1700 block of SW Austin reported a theft last week that he said happened in early July — he didn’t know about it because he had been in jail for a few weeks. A friend who went over to clean the house while he was in jail noticed the items were missing, and said she saw someone load a sink into a car – TV sets, DVD players, a turkey deep-fryer, and towels were among the other items missing — and apparently that “someone” is known to the victim, who said to add insult to injury, the doors and windows to his home were nailed shut from the inside. Further investigation revealed that what might have been his stainless-steel sink was sold to a metal company in July; the victim told police the suspects are crack-cocaine users.

DUMPED ON, LITERALLY: In the 2200 block of California SW last Tuesday morning, the owner of a ’96 VW Golf discovered the car with plants — pulled from a nearby planter — dumped on its windshield, as well as mustard smeared on the window from a hot-dog wrapper.

BOOTED BURGLAR(S): Bootprints on the door were among the evidence that a home in the 8400 block of 18th SW had been broken into sometime August 4th. The burglar(s) ransacked the home and made off with a bottle of change, but left behind many more valuable items including electronics and computer equipment.

PROWLER HEARD BUT NOT SEEN: In the 7500 block of 35th SW late last Tuesday night, a woman heard someone outside her bedroom window say “I think this is (name)’s window.” The name wasn’t hers. She called police, who didn’t find the suspect but did notice “pry marks” on the window.

CAR BREAK-IN FOLLOWED BY HIT AND RUN: At South Seattle Community College last Thursday morning, someone saw a man break into a blue BMW and steal its DVD player. Then the man was seen getting into a silver Altima and taking off northbound. A short time later, a car with the same description got into a hit-and-run crash at Delridge and Oregon – then took off again.

SLIDE SNATCHED: Someone stole a boxed inflatable water slide from High Point Community Center. This was discovered last Thursday, but a Parks Department employee told police it might have happened the previous Tuesday night, when he saw a couple of people “loading something into a car.”

AND NEXT DOOR …: On August 4th, vandals hit High Point Playfield, damaging the wood and glass on the information kiosk. A witness told police there’s been a regular graffiti problem, too.

GRAFFITI VANDALISM AT LINCOLN PARK: Last Wednesday morning, a woman walking past a shelter at Lincoln Park noticed blue-paint graffiti on the fireplace and rockery that she hadn’t seen the day before. She reported it to police; a can of blue paint matching the vandalism also turned up at the scene.

DOUBLE BIKE THEFT: In the 6300 block of 30th SW, very early last Thursday morning, a woman looked out her window and saw two men she didn’t know, walking in her fenced back yard. When she yelled at them, she told police, they grabbed two bicycles and ran off. Police couldn’t track them down.

CAR BREAK-IN: In the 4700 block of SW Hinds last Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, someone broke into a car and stole CDs as well as an MP3 adapter.

BREAK-IN, BUT NOTHING TAKEN: A home in the 900 block of SW Cloverdale was broken into between 9 am and 3 pm last Tuesday — someone forced open the back door — but nothing was taken.

EX-TAVERN BROKEN INTO: The owner of the shuttered Chuck and Sally’s Tavern in the 6300 block of California SW told police August 4th that someone had pried open the back door and gone inside, though it didn’t appear anything had been stolen or disturbed.

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.