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More from the 4th: School slide damaged; Alki arrests

July 5, 2012 2:24 pm
|      25 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle police | West Seattle schools

Two additions to the 4th of July aftermath:

That slide at Sanislo Elementary is cordoned off today, unusable by the kids who are attending day camp on the campus at 18th and Myrtle. It was seriously damaged overnight, apparently by fireworks (or something explosive/incendiary):

According to a day-camp staffer, the district was expected to come out and take a look.

Second, an incident we had asked Seattle Police about earlier is now on SPD Blotter. We’d also asked if there were any arrests on Alki last night. Both are addressed in this SPD report:

Two armed men were arrested in separate incidents during yesterday’s 4th of July festivities on Alki Beach.

Around 8pm, police received a flurry of phone calls about a man brandishing a handgun on an apartment balcony near 55th Avenue SW and Alki Avenue SW.

SWAT, patrol officers, and gang detectives arrived and talked to witnesses, who reported that a man had used a skateboard to smash the windows of an Oldsmobile Cutlass parked behind the building. After smashing the cars’ windows, the suspect ran up to his third floor apartment where he’d flashed a gun.
When owner of the Cutlass ran up to the suspect’s third floor apartment to confront him, the suspect pulled a gun on the man. The suspect then went back inside his apartment.

Officers tried to call the suspect, but he refused to answer his phone. He eventually came out of his apartment and spoke with officers, who then took him into custody. Officers found a knife on the suspect and recovered a loaded .40 caliber handgun, pepper spray, and a skateboard from the suspect’s apartment.

The suspect, who was intoxicated, was apparently angry that the owner of the Cutlass had parked his car in the suspect’s parking space behind the apartment building. The owner of the Cutlass refused to give officers a statement about what had happened.

In another incident on Alki, gang detectives arrested a a 21-year-old felon near Alki Avenue SW and Beach Drive SW, after they received a tip that the man was carrying a gun.

Detectives contacted the man—who, as a convicted felon, is not allowed to have access to guns—and found a 9mm handgun on him. Detectives then booked the man into the King County Jail.

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25 Replies to "More from the 4th: School slide damaged; Alki arrests"

  • gatewooder July 5, 2012 (2:43 pm)

    That looks too big to be done by fireworks, more likely some kind of improvised explosive device.

    • WSB July 5, 2012 (3:04 pm)

      Thanks, I was thinking “M-80,” which I guess might not necessarily be described as fireworks. Will amend to fireworks/explosives. SOMETHING that went boom.

  • MMB July 5, 2012 (3:43 pm)

    Erg. What a shame. I used to love July 4th fireworks, now I just dread all the noise and disruption, including people who seem to feel that July 4 = free license to blow stuff up and damage things. Better when it rains!

  • gatewooder July 5, 2012 (3:45 pm)

    Still a little off in scale. An M-80 wouldn’t even scratch a heavy stainless steel slide like this, which may be for children but is designed for the largest adult knucklehead as well. This is far, far more powerful. The explosive force in your photograph looks similar to what would be in a hand grenade, although there is no shrapnel so it wasn’t – which is why I thought it might be a homemade bomb of some kind. I don’t know of any fireworks that could do this kind of damage, except maybe some commercial version.

  • Josh W July 5, 2012 (3:52 pm)

    I saw all the junk in the Sanislo yard this morning and was very disappointed. I was going to pick up whatever remains when I get home but I am very heart broken to see the photo of the damaged slide. What the F people?! Shame on you for destroying the school property. I totally understand using the asphalt to light your fireworks but not taking your trash with you? F U

  • sam-c July 5, 2012 (4:06 pm)

    think i heard that, a mile away. remembered thinking that it sounded way too loud to be fireworks. that’s really sad, morons….

  • jeunglady July 5, 2012 (4:30 pm)

    Yes, that is totally not cool. Very sad to see that about Sanislo playground and the damaged slide. :( I hope they are able to fix it soon.

  • Barry Joyner July 5, 2012 (4:35 pm)

    Hey I work at this Summer camp I appreciate you guys coming out so soon to take a look at the damage. Hopefully we can get the slide replaced quickly so our little people have a safe place to play this summer!!!

  • Alki Resident July 5, 2012 (4:36 pm)

    Sparkler bomb

  • gina July 5, 2012 (4:42 pm)

    The Seattle School District does not repair broken or damaged play equiptment. If repairs are made, all play items have to be brought up to current code or removed if they don’t meet current standards.

    Recent school playground updates in West Seattle have mentioned this issue. I think Fairmont Park or Lafayette may have been the most recent.

    • WSB July 5, 2012 (4:44 pm)

      It looks like a fairly modern piece of play equipment but your observation makes me think I’d better contact the PTA too. Like most schools, they all work so hard to raise money, and many playground updates have been the result of hard-fought parent/community fundraising, not something from school budgets … TR

  • Barry Joyner July 5, 2012 (4:46 pm)

    Yeah our entire playground was trashed!! Our kids spent their 1st recess cleaning up the neiborhood’s mess:(

    • WSB July 5, 2012 (4:53 pm)

      Barry – If by any chance you or anyone else took a photo of the rest of the mess at the playground … we’d be interested in publishing that, or a photo of the kids cleaning up, if anyone took one. Sometimes it does make people think twice. – TR

  • Barry Joyner July 5, 2012 (5:28 pm)

    Yes we took a lot of pics. What email should I send them to?

  • gatewooder July 5, 2012 (5:44 pm)

    I had not heard of the “sparkler bomb” that Alki suggested, but it looks like there are many instructions for turning 300 or so harmless sparklers into an improvised bomb (much like a pipe bomb made with match heads). That could well be the cause of that serious damage. Very dangerous stuff that is sometimes deadly. Wiki says that in 2008 three people died from these IED devices.

  • gatewooder July 5, 2012 (6:17 pm)

    WSB knows all! Must have missed that episode.

  • Mike July 5, 2012 (9:35 pm)

    wow.. you’d think we might put in laws against fireworks. Like, maybe a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. OH WAIT, WE DO… it’s just not enforced.

  • Jacqui July 5, 2012 (11:03 pm)

    Hey guys,

    My boyfriend was actually standing 100 ft from the playground when all of it happened. He called the pd and also was able to get a license plate # to give them.

    The police told us it was sparklers and I told them that there is no way that sparklers could do that much damage!!!!!

    All I can say is that people that do that kind of stuff are stupid and inconsiderate of everyone including ALL of the kids that play there!!!!!

  • datamuse July 6, 2012 (6:35 am)

    Jacqui, I’m thinking someone could send SPD these photos and ask them if they still think it’s sparklers. :(

  • Chris July 6, 2012 (8:59 am)

    This was my first 4th of July since moving to Alki and I have to say I was extremely disappointed in the police response to fireworks. My wife and I spent some time between 9 and 10 sitting on the sea wall and while there were many officers in the area – there was obvious fireworks activity that was not only a nuisance, but very dangerous to all the people that were there.

    While I certainly appreciate the deterrent effect that the police presence had/has – the lack of enforcement of obvious dangerous crimes makes impotent that deterrent and puts us all at further risk.

  • sam-c July 6, 2012 (10:37 am)

    they didn’t take out the other slide last night, did they?
    heard the same GIANT boom last night around 12:30 am.

  • comment July 6, 2012 (11:36 am)

    Some of you are seriously underestimating the explosive potential of a sparkler bomb. And lmao at the person saying this is more like a grenade explosion.

    Just Youtube “sparkler bomb” and look at the stuff people manage to blow up.

  • Riomama July 6, 2012 (9:27 pm)

    Mike, I agree with you. Wish there was some enforcement of the laws. I spend the 4th hunkered down in my basement with my dogs who are severely shaking with fear of the noise. I would love to know if there’s any way to start a community group to get these fireworks banned in our neighborhoods. Not just because of my dogs, but the general principle of it – unsafe, disruptive, and illegal.

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