EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fifth weekly installment of this new WSB feature – if you missed the explanation/introduction with which we prefaced the first one, you can see it here.

By Megan Sheppard
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:

*Just after midnight early Monday, a Highland Park man awoke to the sounds of a child crying outside his residence. He saw what appeared to be a three-year-old walking barefoot in the middle of the street. He also noticed the front door open on a nearby residence. He went out, picked up the child, rang the bell and banged on the door. When no one answered, he took the child home and called 911. Officers arrived, entered the home through the open door, and found a four-year-old sleeping alone in a bedroom. There was no bed, and he was lying on some blankets on the floor. No other adults were present, except for a renter who came out of a basement room. A Child Protective Services social worker took custody of the children.

Six more cases, after the jump:

*In the Delridge Triangle, several female employees of various businesses had disturbing encounters with a man, starting on October 30th when he walked into a coffee shop and began talking about his perpetual state of arousal. He became aggressive but left when asked. Two days later, on Monday the 1st, he returned to the area around 11 a.m. and told a barista she was beautiful. What she didn’t know was that after leaving her business, he was seen standing behind a dumpster, watching her and pleasuring himself. Around 11:30 a.m. he kicked it up a notch, returning to the first business to not only pleasure himself — this time in front of the clerk — but to brandish a black handgun and demand money. The hysterical clerk ran screaming from the coffee shop. Witnesses saw the suspect running northbound toward the Salvation Army. He was described as a tall, clean-shaven black man in his twenties. During the robbery he wore a red sweatshirt with a white design on the black and blue jeans. He also carried a red and white umbrella. A possible suspect was removed from a Metro bus and fled from officers, but turned out to not be the correct man. He was, however, a convicted felon carrying both drugs and a gun, and therefore received a trip downtown to King County Jail.

*Around 2:30 Sunday morning, officers were waved down by a bystander to an assault at 17th and Roxbury. Three men were standing over one lying in the street, up against the curb. All three were taking turns punching the man, and one kicked him a couple of times. The suspects fled when they saw officers, but all were detained. One, a juvenile, said that the victim had called him a name — and that was the reason for the attack. He was booked into the Youth Service Center for investigation of assault. The adult suspect — a Rainier Valley resident–had a bloody nose and contusions around the eyes and spent the entire encounter screaming incoherently. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault. The third, a juvenile from unincorporated King County — who claimed that he and his compatriots are all gang members — was taken to the Spruce Street Juvenile Center.

*Just after midnight on Sunday the 26th, two officers on patrol were heading south on 35th SW. At the corner of SW Raymond they saw a man and woman stumbling across the street. The young man said that he didn’t know the woman, but could tell she was impaired and was simply trying to help. He was identified and released. The 33-year-old woman was extremely intoxicated, could barely stand, and had a deep cut above one eye. She said she lived in Alki, didn’t know where she was or how she got there, and that she had “messed up” with some drugs. Though medics said her cut required stitches and that her heart rate was extremely high, she refused to go to the hospital. She then tried to walk away and promptly fell over. She was involuntarily transported to Harborview for treatment.

*Two patrol officers happened to be at a local high school and observed an angry 17-year-old student rip a lanyard (with six keys) from his neck, whirl it in the air and fling it at a security officer, hitting her in the face and causing cuts. He was placed on long-term suspension and was released to his parents.

*Friday afternoon, the strong smell of marijuana greeted officers as they drove near 28th SW and SW Yancy. Stopping to investigate, they found two men exiting the greenbelt near the power station. Both smelled of alcohol, and one man showed symptoms of being high on narcotics (facial contortions, jerky movements). He also refused to keep his hands out of his pockets. Frisked for officer safety, he was found to be carrying three crack cocaine pipes with residue. A records check showed he was wanted on a $10,000 misdemeanor warrant from Seattle Municipal Court and was wanted on a felony escape warrant (meaning that he had failed to comply with conditions of his parole) from the Department of Corrections. The 48-year-old Junction-area resident was booked into King County Jail. It’s unclear what happened to his friend.

*Late Thursday, in the 7900 block of 1st Ave. S., an officer stopped a vehicle for failure to transfer ownership of the car. A records check showed that the driver had a suspended license and was wanted on a $5,100 theft/possession of stolen property warrant from Kent. Interestingly, her wallet contained two stolen Mastercards. She was booked into King County Jail.

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Till this feature gets a name (and therefore an archive category) of its own (last call for suggestions – we’re mulling a couple candidates!), we’ll link it on the WSB Crime Watch page, so you can catch it there if you miss it in the main news stream.