West Seattle (and vicinity) Crime Watch: Alan Polevia in jail

Remember Alan Polevia, subject of an air and land manhunt centered in Shorewood on March 5th, resulting in school lockdowns, days after he escaped from custody while being taken to Harborview Medical Center – in handcuffs? He is back behind bars today, according to the King County Jail Register. Before his escape, he had been arrested on warrants related to theft allegations, and our research showed that in November 2006, he was found guilty of third-degree assault for a West Seattle incident involving him and his father getting kicked out of Poggie’s in The Junction, then going across the street and attacking a man outside Talarico’s with a beer bottle and a tire iron. Meantime, as for how he was caught this time around, Sgt. Cindi West from the King County Sheriff’s Office tells WSB this afternoon that last Friday night he was found “rummaging through a dumpster behind a building” in Burien. He at first told deputies his name was Alex Polevia; they used a photo and tattoo descriptions to identify him as Alan, at which time, deputies report, he “apologized for lying about his name.”

34 Replies to "West Seattle (and vicinity) Crime Watch: Alan Polevia in jail"

  • joel March 25, 2013 (3:39 pm)

    tough for a dude that rough looking to hide his identity.

    if he’s beating someone in 2006 with a tire iron wouldn’t that be attemtped murder? so then why is he out of prison and committing more crimes and rummaging thru dumpsters just 7 years later?

  • JanS March 25, 2013 (3:41 pm)

    oh, my…that’s one fine looking dude…..not!

  • Jeff March 25, 2013 (4:13 pm)

    @Joel. It depends on intent, not just the particular item used. Most tools can be used as weapons after all.

    • WSB March 25, 2013 (4:20 pm)

      I just looked back at the court documents I downloaded while looking into Polevia’s background the day of the Shorewood search. It seemed to be a bit of a confusing melee – first Polevia (allegedly) used a beer bottle to hit a guy who was standing outside Talarico’s smoking (this after Polevia and his father got kicked out of Poggie), then came the tire iron – though there were conflicting reports by witnesses and even the victim over the tire iron and what was done with it. Victim later turned up with a big bruise on his leg. Polevia subsequently allegedly used a racial slur against one of the arresting officers and threatened to sue him, then he and his father were alleged to have spent the ride to the precinct making further racial remarks. Further documents show that in March of 2007 Polevia was sentenced to a couple months of work release. – TR

  • Martha March 25, 2013 (4:18 pm)

    Meth lab walking

  • Brooke March 25, 2013 (4:34 pm)

    Looks like a winner.

  • onceachef March 25, 2013 (4:49 pm)

    Yeah, that’s my idea of a “night out” with dad…”Hey son, let’s get drunk and beat someone up”…it’s no wonder he is who he is…

  • KD March 25, 2013 (5:16 pm)

    Apple didn’t fall far from tree.. ‘Thanks to the ‘dad’ for creating another person in pain who causes pain to others. And so it goes on.

  • I. Ponder March 25, 2013 (5:30 pm)

    I love that photo. Would like to hang it as a banner from the West Seattle Bridge overpass. Needs a creative caption.

  • NeighborMom March 25, 2013 (6:18 pm)

    Easy, people… If this guy was my son I’d be suffering the pain of a million heartbreaks right now. I hope he gets taken off the street, and gets some help for his problems.

    • WSB March 25, 2013 (6:29 pm)

      Thank you, NeighborMom. Dating back to that 2006 incident, alcohol treatment was part of the recommendation. The two warrants for which he is being held now are not as accessible as many court docs with which we deal – one is a Seattle Municipal Court warrant, and another appears to be a different lower court – so I don’t know all the details, but will look as time allows. The main reason we published this is that we know people were still uneasy with no closure to what happened with the big search two weeks ago. – TR

  • Scooterista March 25, 2013 (6:56 pm)

    Meth just makes people so stupid. He gives the cops a false first name, but his actual last name, which was really swift, since Polevia is such a common name and Alan so unusual.

  • bearschick March 25, 2013 (6:58 pm)

    Okay, it’s a really back mug shot, but commenting on a person’s looks should not be tolerated. It’s a personal attack. Hell,, my driver’s license photo is SO BAD. No one should judge my looks based on that bad boy. Of course, we shouldn’t be judging each other’s looks at all on the WSB.

  • Mitch March 25, 2013 (7:55 pm)

    Thank you, NeighborMom. Mob mentality stuff. And although I know this comment will disappear faster than a glazed doughnut at a big is beautiful convention, I think the WSB hyped this whole thing to increase clicks – this guy was never any real danger, like cancer or asteroids, but clicks are the currency of advertising rates, and an obvious conflict of interest for a site that claims to be above all that. Nope. That was the response to an earlier inquiry about whether this guy had been caught. Nope is not a word a journalist would use. Nope says things a mess, getting worse, and you might want to head for cover. Beware. Keep clicking. And it’s why I read “Tracy’s World” less and less. Too many doughnuts.

    • WSB March 25, 2013 (8:17 pm)

      Mitch, thanks, but no, we don’t “hype” anything – not to increase clicks or for any other reason. We don’t sell by clicks, never have. Advertisers pay flat rates, whether the site is viewed 2,000 times in a day or 100,000 times – and we haven’t increased those rates in the five and a half years since we have been a business, though the traffic is nine times what it was then. People started calling us that day to ask what the helicopter was doing. I called King County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Cindi West to ask what the helicopter was doing. The helicopter was a TV chopper after about five minutes in. Why they came over to Shorewood to cover the search for a thief, beats me. They hung around for quite some time. As for “nope” – that’s all I knew at the time. – TR

  • happy March 25, 2013 (8:30 pm)

    Mitch, I was one of those who called WSB to find out why there was a helicopter, and police cars, so near where I was at the time.

    The guy was reported to be in the brush just around the corner from me when I called the blog; I appreciate how WSB was able to give me accurate, up-to-date information that allowed me to be safe(r).

    Mitch, please remember that you hold the power over what you read. You can always choose to not click on WSB.

  • 2006? March 25, 2013 (8:57 pm)

    Was talaricos even open in 2006? I thought it was that awesome divey karaoke place.

    • WSB March 25, 2013 (9:32 pm)

      “2006?” – the incident happened in early November 2006, according to the court docs I downloaded from the King County system. According to our archives, it had been open at least six months by then – we wrote in April 2006 that we were bummed it was 21+ only (our kid was 10 at the time).

  • oz March 25, 2013 (9:14 pm)

    mitch you just showed your stupidity cancer really the illness kills thousands a day. if you dont have anything intellegent to say then dont.

  • Ajax March 25, 2013 (9:21 pm)

    Dang, did Mitch get fired from the WSB at some point? Seems like he’s got quite an ax to grind, or perhaps it just sucks losing your scrap metal connection to frequent arrests. As for cancer not being a real danger, I have several close relatives who would beg to differ if they were still alive.

  • Peeb March 25, 2013 (9:40 pm)

    Mitch, just shut the hell up. He may not have been dangerous, but by escaping from police custody, he brought this attention upon himself, and people in the community have a right to know that he’s out there. I certainly appreciated knowing about it. And the WSB is about as impartial as it gets, so shut the hell up about that too. Smart journalists write like real people talk. Oh and by the way, your donut joke is just stupid.

  • Mitch March 25, 2013 (9:41 pm)

    What disturbed me about the previous coverage, and seems to a pattern on this blog, is the mob mentality that surfaces every time the WSB covers this kind of thing, and using hot words like nope only fans the flames. Anyway, I don’t know what’s more disturbing, that you don’t know the difference between journalism and yelling ‘fire’ in a theater, or just don’t care. It also sounds like you might want to rethink your revenue strategy.

  • miws March 25, 2013 (10:21 pm)

    God Mitch, this really sucks for you. Not only are you being forced against your will to read WSB, you’re also being forced to repeatedly comment.

    .

    Mike

  • I. Ponder March 25, 2013 (10:47 pm)

    Don’t tell your kids not to take drugs. Just show them this guy’s photo.

    And if this guy was your daughter’s boyfriend and she insisted he’s actually REALLY nice and just needs a place to stay for a couple weeks, you’d of course be sympathetic.

  • Watchdog March 25, 2013 (10:58 pm)

    Mitch, you wouldn’t feel the same way if you and your family lived a block away from the house he was holed up in the last several years. We have anxiously waited for this news, as this creep was a menace to our neighborhood. If you still feel its hype, take a drive over the the house boarded up on 36th and Morgan. That’s where he lived, kept his stolen property, and did his meth. Take a good look around.

  • BP March 25, 2013 (11:51 pm)

    Don’t feed the Mitch troll…

  • 35this35mph March 26, 2013 (7:55 am)

    “hot words like Nope” LOL!

  • Dave March 26, 2013 (8:11 am)

    Look on the bright side – Once this criminal makes bail he can buy meth from the dealers operating out of Nickelsville.

  • steve March 26, 2013 (8:50 am)

    Texting on my T-mobile “nope” appears 2nd after nose. T-Mobile apparently believes “nope” is indeed a word. Yes, it’s very sad. It’s the end of society people!! We’re doomed!!! Can we all just get along?
    BTW, chased a prowler off my roof last night at
    30th and Roxbury. Kinda looked like Al (above).Dark clothes, 17 ish, white, ran like a bat outta hell. I’ll be watching for him. I’m glad he didn’t actually break in, or we’d be having a much different conversation. I did call it in.

  • bridge to somewhere March 26, 2013 (1:29 pm)

    go back under the bridge, troll!

  • Dunno March 26, 2013 (1:29 pm)

    I personally come to this site to find out what is happening in my backyard. If you don’t like the coverage, set up your own blog. Why tear down the hard work of others?

  • gia March 26, 2013 (5:28 pm)

    hi steve…i also live on 30th and roxbury and want to thank you for sharing that info, i will keep my eyes/ears open in the event that this was not the man that has been arrested….on the roof is a scary thought…

  • evergreen March 27, 2013 (2:48 am)

    Like many have said, the guy obviously uses meth as evidenced by the skin picking lesions on his face. Huge problem in this city, and much of our jail population.

  • humblepie March 27, 2013 (4:00 am)

    It’s high time we put a nation wide ban on tire irons!

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