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 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?”:

*In Highland Park, the recent election caused some friction between a father and son: Thirty-nine-year-old dad said that no matter how legal marijuana was going to be, it was not to be smoked in his house. He also laid down the law: Sonny would have to start working to help support the household. The discussion ended up getting slightly physical, and someone called 911. Son (19 years old) told officers that his dad is very wrong to force him to work. According to the report, “The son says that it is cold and raining outside and that he prefers to stay inside where he is warm and has food to eat. He also feels it’s his dad’s responsibility to provide for him.” Officers told the son to go spend the night at his brother’s in order to cool off.

*On Thursday the 8th, an employee of Nucor Steel was driving along Harbor Avenue when he noticed three men stealing scrap metal from the company’s property. He called company security and the security team called 911 to describe the thieves and their car. Officers pulled the vehicle over on Highland Park Way. It was full of scrap metal, but the three denied they had climbed or gone over any fences to get it. (Indeed: The report says they had cut *through* a fence to access the material.) All three were booked into King County Jail for investigation of burglary.

Six more summaries, including new information on a police-guns-drawn incident at a local gas station last weekend:

*On the 10th, around 3:45 p.m., officers from the Southwest Precinct spotted an SUV that had been in a King County road-rage incident involving a gun. When it pulled into a Delridge gas station, the driver (who matched the suspect description) got of the the car and looked at officers. Fearing he was about to run, officers drew their weapons and ordered him to the ground. They also ordered the passenger from the SUV. The driver had no license and was carrying $803. The gang unit took over the investigation and impounded the vehicle (which had a heavy stench of marijuana from even 25 feet away). The driver and passenger were interviewed and released from the Southwest Precinct.

*Wednesday morning around 9:15, a citizen reported that a stranger was asleep behind the wheel of a car in the 2600 block of Belvidere SW, and that a dog inside was barking at passersby. The suspect, who was carrying multiple knives, meth, and smoking paraphernalia, claimed he had been left there by a man who gave him a ride from South Park on Tuesday night. The car was damaged and appeared to have been stolen. A records check showed that the suspect was wanted on a King County domestic-violence felony warrant. He was booked into King County Jail on the warrant and for investigation of possession of narcotics.

*Early Friday, a man arrived home in the 4000 block of SW Thistle. He noticed a silver/blue vehicle parked in front of a nearby house. At the same home, he saw a man trying to pry open a door. When asked his reason for being there, the stranger replied, “I’m looking for Mark,” before jumping into the car and being driven off by a woman. The homeowner was asleep upstairs and didn’t hear a thing. The female suspect is white and has bleached blonde hair. The male is white and in his mid-twenties.

*Around 3 p.m. Wednesday, a woman was waiting for a taxi in the Westwood Village parking lot near Starbucks when someone walked up from behind, yanked her purse from her arm, and got into the passenger seat of a waiting “new black sedan.” The thief was a black female in her late 20s, wearing black pants, black shirt and a lot of makeup. The car’s driver was described only as a black male.

*When a local man was released from the hospital after being injured in a family assault, hospital officials asked for police help, fearing another incident if the man’s son was at home when he arrived. Holding a warrant for the son’s arrest, officers showed up at the home on 27th SW on Wednesday afternoon. They saw the son in the garage, but he closed the garage door after being spotted. When dad arrived home, he provided a key to officers who went in and arrested the son for 2nd-degree domestic-violence assault.

*After being arrested for violating a protection order (the protected person was sitting in his lap in a vehicle), a 31-year-old man warned the officer that he might have a crack-filled grenade somewhere on his body. The officer’s report states, “I transported the subject to the precinct, where I verified this was not true.” Apparently going through that, uh, procedure, compelled the suspect to offer the officer a contrite, “Sorry…I’m a jackass.”

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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 publish crime reports when we get tips or otherwise hear about noteworthy incidents – they don’t all turn up on the scanner, so please don’t be shy about letting us know when you see/hear something happening = calling or texting 206-293-6302 is the best way.