By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog

From reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers:

*At an apartment in the 2600 block of 42nd SW, tenants must display a parking permit in order to use the rear parking lot. Tuesday morning, a tenant heard a tow truck and saw it preparing to tow his roommate’s car. The tenant ran downstairs, opened the car door, found the permit on the floor and showed it to the driver. But the tow truck driver ignored him. The roommate came down as well, and when she stood in front of the rear tire of her vehicle, she claims the driver deliberately struck her bare foot with a metal crossbar. The car was towed, and the residents have been advised to contact the building’s management company about the incident.

*Someone entered a fenced yard in the 5600 block of 35th SW last week on Wednesday and stole a number of metal parts from a restaurant-quality barbecue grill. The estimated loss is $2,000.

11 more summaries – including more details on a case we’ve been following outside WSBeat, a bus-stop robbery, a potential case of tree poisoning, and more – after the jump:

*(EDITOR’S NOTE: These are a few of the missing-till-now details on the latest case against Joel Lund, which we’ve been tracking in Crime Watch.) Police say a local man with a history of theft arrests punched his girlfriend in the head, punched her stepfather in the head and face, and then ran out of the Morgan-area house toward the garage, where he hit one of his friends in the face with a blunt object. A K9 unit tracked the suspect to a nearby apartment complex where he was arrested. He was later booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault.

*Early Friday, a man pointed a gun at two women waiting for a bus at Delridge and Croft Pl. SW and demanded their purse and backpack. He left on foot and then was seen climbing into the passenger side of a dark, northbound SUV.

*After dark on Thursday, a bicyclist was causing a distraction, weaving in and out of oncoming traffic near 10th and Cloverdale. The bike had no headlamp and the officer was startled see that the cyclist was riding seated backward. He refused to stop for the officer and, in fact, “flipped him off” multiple times. His father spotted him as he rode toward home and even tried to tackle the young man to assist officers. The 20-year-old was arrested in his backyard and booked into King County Jail for investigation of obstruction.

*Near 41st and Othello, a citizen noticed that a 100-year-old red cedar in her front yard seemed to be dying. As an arborist examined it, a passerby mentioned that back in October—before the current resident had purchased the house—someone had put a number of small dowels (possibly soaked with herbicide) into the tree. An officer confirmed that many small holes had been drilled. Although several neighbors’ views might be improved by the death of the tree, the victim has no direct suspicion of any party. The Seattle City Arborist will be provided with a copy of the police report.

*Sometime between noon and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, someone broke into a vehicle at the West Seattle Golf Course parking lot and stole a bag containing a 40-caliber handgun. The car’s owner had a valid permit for the weapon and had planned to be shooting at the stadium gun range that evening.

*A Junction-area resident called 911 late Thursday to say that a stranger was on her porch banging on the door and demanding to be let in. The suspect was extremely intoxicated and uncooperative with officers, refusing to follow orders to relax and put his hands behind his back. He was forced to the ground and handcuffed after moving aggressively toward an officer. The 66-year-old was booked into King County Jail for investigation of obstruction.

*A woman with a history of chronic 911 calls has started in again from a new residence in the Junction area. On Thursday afternoon, medics were called after she summoned a taxi and then passed out in the lobby of the apartment complex. The 33-year-old was transported to Harborview for an evaluation. Though she has lived in the new building only a week, she has already overdosed, become intoxicated and disturbed other tenants. She has been told that she needs to vacate the premises within ten days.

*Around 1:30 Monday morning, officers stopped to help a woman who tripped over the median in the 7100 block of Delridge. Clearly intoxicated, she was very comfortable sitting in the middle of the street and didn’t want to move. She was transported to Harborview for a mental exam.

*Just before 9 on Friday morning, a Genesee Hill citizen called 911 to report seeing and hearing a teenage girl screaming from the passenger side of a vehicle that drove down the 3800 block of 53rd SW just before nine on Friday morning. The car was an older-model work/utility van that had neither side windows nor any sort of company logo and had a bad gray “paint-over” job. The girl was white, wore her hair in a ponytail and sported a green and white-striped sweater.

*A stranger was seen peering into windows from a public stairwell in the 7700 block of Delridge late Saturday. He was even spotted kneeling outside a front door and speaking with a child inside. When confronted, he walked off and was seen entering a nearby apartment complex. The suspect is a white male, approximately 50 years of age, 6’2” and 135 pounds. He wore a black baseball hat and jeans.

*Two friends met some fellows at a downtown club. Too intoxicated to drive home themselves, they asked if the gents would drive them back to one gal’s residence in the Westwood area. The three men not only agreed, but they came inside, ate, drank, and slept, leaving around 11 a.m. , along with the hostess’s gal pal, cell phone, computer, cash and credit cards. The suspects drove a dark orange or burnt-red colored Datsun.

*Concerned citizens called 911 after hearing a young man threatening a woman at a Westwood store on Saturday afternoon. As it turns out, the pair were mother and son. Mom explained that he takes multiple medications for mental disorders and had simply become stressed: They had just arrived here five days ago from the southern US, are homeless and are living in a motel while looking for work. The young man said he wouldn’t really hurt his mother, and that he just wanted to go back to the motel. He was taken to Harborview for care and an evaluation.

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WSB Editor’s Note: The WSBeat has an archive category of its own, though we’re still linking the weekly reports on the WSB Crime Watch page, so you can catch it there if you miss it in the main news stream. We also continue to publish crime reports the rest of the week, when we get tips or hear noteworthy incidents via the scanner, so don’t be shy about letting us know when you see/hear something happening.