West Seattle Crime Watch: Highland Park beating case status

| Crime | Highland Park | West Seattle news

With more than a month passing since the beating of a teenager in Highland Park came to light in startling TV-news stories, with claims of a racist motive, and no news of any arrests, people have continued to ask about the case’s status – we got another note just this morning. We’ve been checking with police periodically, and just talked again with Det. Mark Jamieson in the Seattle Police media unit. The short answer: It’s still an “active and ongoing investigation.” Longer answer: The DNA evidence is still being processed; the case files, Det. Jamieson told us, show that the detective who’s handling it has received an update that the lab is working on the analysis this week. He also says that the victim and his “custodial parent” – not the one who’s done media interviews along the way – have been getting updates from police, as is their primary responsibility as the investigation proceeds. Det. Jamieson says SPD understands community frustration and fears that there are dangerous people on the loose who might attack someone else, but all they can say for the record is that it’s “an ongoing investigation until it’s resolved.”

rw June 30, 2010 (12:10 pm)

Thanks for the update.

I support due process, but am concerned at the low priority level this investigation seems to have at the DNA labs. A month and they are just getting around to testing the DNA samples?? That is not acceptable. Is this delay because the lab is underfunded for the amount of work they are asked to do? Or is this truly a low priority for them?

WSB June 30, 2010 (12:13 pm)

I cannot speak to the current state of the state’s DNA-testing lab – it’s on my followup list – but I can tell you from stories we did during my time in TV news, it has long been massively backed up. In an earlier check, I was told that they’d “put a rush” request on this – but that still means weeks, not days.
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Their website:
http://www.wsp.wa.gov/forensics/crimlabs.htm
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A story from January:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010821741_apwacrimelabbacklog1stldwritethru.html

HolyKow June 30, 2010 (1:05 pm)

But in NCIS, the evidence results come back in like 4 minutes!

Hope they catch them. However, if it turns out to be the 2 that were detained and had their DNA taken, they are probably LONG since way gone…

sam June 30, 2010 (1:45 pm)

I was just going to ask WSB the status on this case this morning. It seems like it has been a long time for these thugs to continue roaming the streets.
whatever happened to bringing suspects in for a line-up and identification by the victim (behind one way glass) ? is that just on tv?

WSB June 30, 2010 (1:56 pm)

Sam, there were a few reports (again quoting the dad, whom police note is not the one closest to the case) that the victim had been asked to look at a “photo lineup,” and police confirmed to us that he had met again with detectives in the time frame cited. However, part of the problem initially – regarding why police didn’t just arrest the guys they found in the area with blood on their hands etc. – was that, at least according to the police report, the victim could not give a good description of his attackers. And of course, you would say, well, he’s just been beaten senseless, of course he couldn’t. So there’s the proverbial Catch 22. Nonetheless, as others have said in other comment threads, what it still all eventually comes down, if there are arrests, is a court, and a judge, and maybe a jury, and evidence that has to be more than circumstantial, or else the (alleged) thugs are back out on the street with NO hope of being prosecuted/convicted because charges weren’t brought or the case was picked apart, etc.

onceachef June 30, 2010 (2:04 pm)

Maybe the detective can explain what he means by “an ongoing investigation until it’s resolved.”…kind of an obvious (a “Yogi Berra-ism”?) statement that has a very vague meaning. Evidence shows they (the alleged perps) had blood on their hands, were smoking the same cigarettes as at the scene of the beating and drinking the same energy drinks as described…sounds like a locked-in, slam dunk to me. Couldn’t they have at least held them for 24 hours based on that?…might have gotten some more out of them. The (alleged) perps are gone now…shame.

Mary June 30, 2010 (2:23 pm)

This hardly helps SPD with public perception and the racial issues they’ve been involved with. And distrust of our police is the last needed.

4thGenWestSide June 30, 2010 (3:34 pm)

Could it be that the fear of the racial issues / relations is the reason that suspects weren’t detained? Sad that it seems we are all so worried about being P.C that we tiptoe around going after the bad guys.

Baba June 30, 2010 (3:46 pm)

@ onceachef, the answer is simple; SPD can’t afford a multi million $ law suit now if they are wrong…How many officers they will have to cut then?
PS: I don’t even want to get into the losses the local donut shops will endure :)

onceachef June 30, 2010 (4:26 pm)

Baba, I don’t know all facets of the law but it seems reasonable that they could hold (as opposed to charging them) a suspect (or “persons of interest”) for up to 24 hours without risking a lawsuit…the 2 that were questioned were in the vicinity of the incident, out at a very early (late) hour, had dried blood on their hands, smoked the same brand cigarettes as what were found at the scene and were drinking the same drinks as described from the scene. It seems enough to take them in and question them…maybe not.

Travis Bickle June 30, 2010 (5:45 pm)

I call B.S! Its nice to know that the police acknowledge the fact that they are allowing potential dangerous people to roam the streets and attack other victims. Shows how much they are interested in providing safety for the public that pays their salary. What a joke.

Baba June 30, 2010 (7:14 pm)

onceachef and other posters. Everything you say makes perfect sense to me. But…I think there is something about this case that we all are not being told by SPD. It seems too much of a cut and dry case for them not to resolve quickly. Something is off. Only time will tell…
PS: However, if SPD did make such a rookie mistake..
Well then… @#$%@#$, i don’t want to get censored…#$%^@#$%

asif June 30, 2010 (10:05 pm)

MORE BS!! “understands community frustration”, yeah right! Like I said before, someone will have to die before the cops’ will be allowed the act like cops, and protect the….or maybe they will just stand by and film the white guy getting beat to death like they did down town a few years ago. You know, I think that if this boy was the son of the mayor, or the son of a cop, things would be totally different.

brian g July 1, 2010 (10:08 am)

dna and CSI has burdened our legal process. we ought to be able to use appropriate technology/evidence and reason to solve a case. if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, should we have to take a dna sample to make sure it’s a duck?

David July 1, 2010 (6:41 pm)

The police know what they’re doing. There is more to this case than they are saying. Just be patient.

Wtf July 2, 2010 (1:56 pm)

There is more to this story than we are being told.

Phil Dirt July 4, 2010 (6:43 am)

This is addressed toTravis Bickle and asif……. the cops will tell you themselves that they are under no obligation to protect you, the individual citizen. In this particular case they are doing what they are paid to do and therefore obligated to do. The individual is responsible for himself. If you want to be protected, and don’t have a criminal record yourself, then I would suggest to you that you buy a pistol, get licensed to carry it, and make sure you get training so that you know the law regarding legal use of a firearm, and which end of the gun the bullet comes out of. Of course, knowing the mentality of most of the people who live in Seattle, I fully expect that I will hear a bunch of PC crap from the good citizens.

F16CrewChief July 4, 2010 (1:39 pm)

Did it cross anyones minds that the police are investigating the “custodial parent” in this crime? Like many of you have pointed out, there is an abundance of convenient evidence against the two suspects, yet the police don’t seem so convinced. There is indeed much more to this case than just two so-called racist minorities beating a white kid in the middle of the night.

WSB July 4, 2010 (2:38 pm)

They didn’t say they were investigating the “custodial parent.” They did make a point that the ‘custodial parent” – the mom – is who is getting the most information from them, as well as the victim, because that’s how they work, yet it’s the non-custodial parent – the dad – who sought out TV coverage in the very beginning and is the only one who has given media interviews, to my knowledge.

cratewasher July 5, 2010 (9:18 am)

The cops obviously consider them suspects.
What “more” to the story could there be that would mitigate the seriousness of this crime.
These guys are either long gone or still walking the streets ready to prey on the next vulnerable person.
The “we can’t do our job until after the DNA testing comes back” is ridiculous and dangerous for the residents of the Highland Park Neighborhood.

Pedro July 6, 2010 (3:48 pm)

I just want to make sure I understand the rules – I can beat someone within and inch of their life and torture them for hours, and can’t be arrested for over a month if the person can’t positively ID me? Good to know.

Pedro July 19, 2010 (1:19 pm)

Okay, so now we are approaching the two month mark and still no progress.

What is going on here?

There have not been many recent murders in Seattle since this occurred, nor has there been any violent crimes as heinous as this one – so what gives??? Two months???

AND SPD recently confirmed that the same suspects are wanted in what they believe is a similar (albeit less brutal) crime, where victims were assaulted and harassed because they were white.

In other words, SPD’s CHOICE to let these guys walk around amongst us good citizens for two months has already had reprecussions. What next?

SPD DO YOUR JOB. I mean really, I just saw a story where you picked up AND arrested a 17 year old in an unrelated incident because he was in the area of the crime. These guys were not only in the area, but had blood on their hands (literally) and circumstantial evidence that overwhelmningly implicates their guilt.

SHAME ON YOU SPD – THIS WILL NOT GO AWAY.

Sorry, comment time is over.