The WSBeat: From the ‘pigeon drop’ to the crow report

By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog

As always, the WSBeat summaries are from reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers, incidents of note that (usually) have not already appeared here in breaking-news coverage or West Seattle Crime Watch reports, but that might at least answer the question “what WERE all those police doing on my block (whenever)?”:

*Beware of scammers and the “Pigeon Drop” scheme. If someone approaches you, claims to have inherited money in a foreign country, but needs your help in donating it to a good cause, just say no. On the 7th, a woman was approached at a Westwood Village coffee shop and before the day was done she had driven (with the suspects) to her bank and handed them $20,000 worth of cash and jewelry. Both suspects were described as black females, one with her hair in a “greasy” curly perm who carried a green satchel with three zippers. The other wore purple-framed glasses, a gray leather coat, lots of silver-colored rings and carried a black purse with a circle design.

*In the evening on Saturday the 9th, an alcohol and marijuana-impaired Montana resident was booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault after he yelled profanities at children in a High Point park. When an older child told him to leave them alone, he began yelling at her, screaming nonsense, claiming she was his girlfriend. As the children left the area, the suspect followed them until he was confronted by a parent. He punched the parent in the shoulder. In return, the parent punched him in the face, knocked him down, and called 911.

Six more summaries ahead:

*On Sunday afternoon, an officer performed a routine records check of a vehicle in the 9600 block of 16th Ave. SW. The owner’s driver’s license had been canceled due to fraud. He was also using an known alias and was a registered sex offender/kidnapper who lied about his current address and had not reported it as required by law. His passenger provided officers with a false name, likely because he was wanted on two felony warrants (escape and dangerous drugs) and one misdemeanor warrant for obstruction. The passenger was booked into King County Jail. The driver was released from the precinct.

*Late Thursday, the 7th, an impaired bus rider hit one passenger at least eight times and the driver three times. The suspect was booked into King County Jail for assault. No one else on the bus was willing to provide information to officers. It happened at Andover and Delridge.

*Around 1:30 on Tuesday the 12th, a man yelled “Police,” as he kicked in a lower door of a home in the 9200 block of Olson Pl. SW. Once inside he was confronted by a woman screaming in Spanish. He panicked and ran out the way he had come in. Another suspect was seen standing in the driveway. The first was described as a tall and slender East African man in his late twenties. He wore a black and white polka dot hoody and black pants. The second was described as an East African man in his late twenties, short, wearing a green and black checkered sweater.

*Early Wednesday, a Snoqualmie resident threatened a bartender, exited the Alaska Junction establishment, and laid himself down in the middle of California Avenue at SW Oregon. Both he and the bartender called 911, with the suspect telling operators that he wanted to be shot. Officers arrived, and instead of shooting, they walked the victim to the sidewalk. Admitting his paranoia, the 35-year-old also explained that he had recently smoked some meth, which, as the officer’s report stated, “undoubtedly made things worse.” He was taken to Harborview for a mental health exam.

*Officers were asked to check the welfare of a local gentleman — a self-proclaimed inventor — who feels he is regularly “ripped off” by other people stealing his ideas. He reassured officers that he wasn’t suicidal on this day, but also mentioned that his neighbors were sending microwave frequencies into his house and that an electrical chip was implanted in him during a recent out-of-state surgery. He was not considered to be a danger to himself or others, so officers let him be, reassured that he sees a doctor on a “regular basis.” Several hours later, the man called 911 to say that President Bush was using a satellite to shoot him with microwaves and that if he didn’t stop he was going to kill the former president. After checking with the Secret Service, officers had the victim transported to Harborview for a mental health exam.

*The Report of the Year award goes to a SW Precinct officer who documented last week’s “crow into a power transformer” incident. The writeup features both in-depth description of the tactical approach to the scene (“Officers used an SPD-approved ‘foot roll’ technique to gently inspect the victim”) and the cordoning off of the area “for evidence preservation and to prevent tampering by associates of the victim.” It also noted that the victim had an alias: “Corvus Brachyrhynchos.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Remember, the CRISIS LINE is a resource for those in crisis, including thoughts or acts of self-harm: 206.461.3222 … WSBeat roundups are archived here. 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 = calling or texting 206-293-6302 is the best way.

12 Replies to "The WSBeat: From the 'pigeon drop' to the crow report"

  • Alki Resident June 23, 2012 (12:08 am)

    Is it me or are these stories getting funnier and funnier? Thanks for the good laugh on some of these stories.

  • CandrewB June 23, 2012 (7:05 am)

    Serious question, why are microwaves and implanted chips such a prevalent paranoid delusion? I hear anecdotes about the mentally impaired claiming the same delusions far too often for coincidence.

  • charlieg June 23, 2012 (7:36 am)

    The reason these stories seem funnier is because Megan Sheppard is writing them. She used to write the police blotter for the West Seattle Herald. It was always my favorite part of the Herald. The “Gesundheit” story was my all time favorite.

    Glad she is with WSB now.

  • sgs June 23, 2012 (8:01 am)

    I don’t find them funny. Don’t want to be an innocent bystander in my own neighborhood when one of these people go off. Worked in Belltown too many years with this kind of situation. Mental health treatment seriously lacking around here.

  • Ray June 23, 2012 (10:05 am)

    “Officers arrived and instead of shooting….”

    Funny Stuff

  • onceachef June 23, 2012 (10:30 am)

    Yeah, I agree, not really funny…sad, tragic, maddening, but not funny. I guess some people find mental illness and crime funny?

  • CMeagh June 23, 2012 (12:31 pm)

    I have to say that the story of the person punching the parent in the shoulder, then getting punched in the face is funny. Maybe that was what Alki Resident was referring to. I didn’t see anywhere in their post that they were referring to the stories of mentally ill.

  • boy June 23, 2012 (5:06 pm)

    Well you can thank the ACLU for these people out on the street. Several years ago they went to court and fought for these type of people to not be locked up. Their rights to freedom were more important than the public’s safety.

  • LE June 23, 2012 (10:37 pm)

    Not really funny. The story does hint at how difficult it is for the mentally ill to be referred for hospitalized treatment.

  • Plain Sight June 24, 2012 (10:03 am)

    Stay utterly humorless, west Seattle.

  • Velo_nut June 25, 2012 (4:00 pm)

    Yeah, you people are boring

  • sun*e June 26, 2012 (9:30 am)

    @Comment by CMeagh — 12:31 pm June 23, 2012 #:
    “I didn’t see anywhere in their post that they were referring to the stories of mentally ill”.

    You must’ve missed reading the last summary/post.

Sorry, comment time is over.