By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog

From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:

*Thursday afternoon in Morgan Junction, the exhaust of one driver’s car was so thick that it seemed, to a passing officer, to be blinding the drivers who had the misfortune to be behind it. The officer made a U-turn to catch up to the driver, who simply hit the gas pedal (increasing the smoke) and refused to pull over until he reached his home on 47th SW. He was not carrying his license. A records check showed that he was wanted on three warrants: from Lynnwood ($5,100) for possessing drug paraphernalia), from Seattle for possession of cocaine, and from Seattle Municipal Court ($10,000) for assault. He was booked into King County Jail on the warrants and was cited for excessive smoke and for driving without a license.

(5 more summaries ahead:)

*Early Saturday, an officer watched a driver make erratic turns at California and Admiral and then followed him into a convenience store. From several feet away, the officer could smell intoxicants. The driver, who was already on probation for a previous DUI violation, said he’d been drinking at two bars “up the street.” He then provided the officer with the names and receipts from the bars. (Far from being up the street, they happened to be in Fremont and downtown.) After failing impairment tests, the suspect — because of his past history — was booked into King County Jail for investigation of DUI. Just how impaired was he? As a courtesy, the officer mentioned to him that his fly was open. The 27-year-old was unable to button himself up.

*On Thursday evening, several citizens reported an impaired driver weaving across lanes and possibly colliding with barriers on the West Seattle Bridge. The driver didn’t respond to lights and sirens and directions to pull over. Instead, she proceeded to the parking lot of an Admiral business, pulled partway into a parking spot and stopped, managing to block passing traffic. Officers report that the car interior was dirty and cluttered and that the driver was disheveled and clearly smelled of alcohol. She was a Tacoma resident and claimed that she was weaving because she was on her cellphone with a friend and was being given directions. After failing several DUI tests, she was about to be transferred to the precinct, and the officers planned to move her vehicle out of the way of traffic. Then they noticed the wet driver’s seat. Unsure of the source of the –- uh — moisture, they hesitated: “The sergeant and I could not tell what it was, but neither of us were going to sit in *that* seat to move *that* vehicle.” A tow truck was called to the scene. The woman faces investigation into charges of driving under the influence and negligent driving.

*Late Thursday in a “boarding house” in the Admiral area, a brawl erupted between some male residents and a visitor. Ultimately, the visitor grabbed a fire extinguisher, discharged it in one man’s face and then hit him with it, knocking out several teeth. Officers arrived to find most of the living room covered in white powder. Medics treated the victim; the suspect had left the scene but later returned, extremely intoxicated, and admitted his role in the melee. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault.

*Angry with her boyfriend, a woman standing on a second-floor balcony pitched a glass bottle at him as he stood in a Junction parking lot on Thursday evening. The bottle missed its mark and ended up denting a parked car. The unhappy owner of the vehicle was provided with a case number.

*Late Saturday, a man stole a package of cookies from a Delridge convenience store, telling the owner to “go ahead and call the cops.” The suspect was standing at the corner of the store when officers arrived. He admitted the theft, saying that he sleeps in Roxhill Park and wanted to get out of the cold. Officers trespassed him from the store, explained he’d be arrested if he returned, and then transported him downtown to a shelter for the night.

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Now that this roundup has a name, it has an archive category of its own, though we’ll still link the weekly reports on the WSB Crime Watch page, so you can catch it there if you miss it in the main news stream.