A brazen car theft – stolen though someone was right next to the car – tops the New Year’s first West Seattle Crime Watch report roundup. From Carlos:
This morning around 8:35 am, my daughter’s used car (1988 4-door green Mercedes 300E, license plate # AFV7311) was stolen right in front of my wife, who was warming it up; the key was on as she was defrosting the windows, she was on the passenger side. A car with two men drove past the house (42nd/Findlay) and the passenger got out and walked on the street, jumped in the car and drove off. It’s an old car, but my daughter needs it for school. If anyone spots the car, please call the Seattle Police Department (case number 13-000485).
Reach them via 911 if you see it, as advised in the SPD @getyourcarback tweet about this case.
Two other Crime Watch reader reports – both from Lincoln Park – after the jump:
Joan says this happened in Lincoln Park’s north lot:
Just wanted to pass on this to all to, once again. ALWAYS be on your guard!
(Saturday) I joined a small group to do the Christmas bird count in Lincoln Park. We had parked and were walking away to the trail. It was just after 8 a.m., a few other cars in the lot, but not many. We paused out of view of the lot, but not far off, when we heard a loud noise – crashing, banging, something heavy breaking. One of our group ran to see what happened and realized a guy had just smashed a back window to a one of our team member’s cars, and reached in and grabbed a backpack. He ran to a waiting white SUV (older model Isuzu Trooper, I believe) parked nearby, and proceeded to back up and try to speed away.. We all ran to the car and got a good look at it and the license plate. We called police and reported it all. We were stunned that this happened in broad daylight, within minutes of us being right there. And, this particular SUV had been parked there, among us, since the first person arrived in the dark, and it had its motor idling for over an hour.
Fortunately, the backpack that was taken contained only rain pants. The vehicle owner had her valuables with her.
We hear this time and time again – never leave valuables in your car, and never in view. These criminals obviously checked out every car in the lot, before picking the Subaru wagon. Our team members had even seen this guy walking from the park back to the lot before that.
From now on, when I park at a recreation area, I will take a good look around, before leaving my car!
Also at Lincoln Park – Rachel believes she was victimized by a thief or thieves:
I am pretty sure my coin purse/wallet was stolen out of my stroller down at Lincoln park along the water. It happened around 12:30 pm (Monday). We were at the bottom of the north beach trail.
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