West Seattle Crime Watch: Cars hit; cars prowled; more

Three West Seattle Crime Watch reports this afternoon, starting with an early-morning crash that left a trail of damage, reports a resident who didn’t want to be identified. It happened around 3 am in the 3800 block of California:

Police responded last night. 5 parked cars damaged, here [photo above] is the worst. … I am told by resident the perp could not drive away and was arrested.

Blocks to the north, from someone else who did not want to be identified (though they have reported this to police):

Just wanted to let you know that last night two young adults, possibly teenagers, were going through cars and stealing items last night around 10 pm on the 3000 block of 45th Ave SW. They were wearing black with hooded sweatshirts and backpacks. They escaped on foot and police searched the neighborhood. They were not able to find them.

We had a few items taken from our car. This morning I also noticed items from other cars on 45th in the street. This is the second time this month we have had our car ransacked.

One more report ahead, with a photo – a car whose driver is reported to have followed a young woman for blocks on Friday:

From a Gatewood resident:

‘A young lady was walking a dog around 41st and Monroe Friday 3/22/13 at 5:30 pm. A teenage-looking driver and occupant in an older silver Volvo sedan with extensive damage to the rear passenger-side door (vehicle plates [starting with] 108) closely and suspiciously followed her for a few blocks, parked and waited curbside for an extended time in front of her, and attempted communication as she sought assistance at a neighbor’s front door.

Any information on the driver, occupant, and/or vehicle appreciated. Police report filed under suspicious activity.’

I’ve attached a photo of the vehicle captured from security cam of neighbor’s front door.

And one last mention – The next community meeting at which you can find out more about crime trends and crime prevention is coming up this Tuesday (March 26), when the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meets at 6:30 pm at the Southwest Precinct meeting room (Delridge/Webster). New precinct commander Capt. Joe Kessler is scheduled to meet the group; Officer Jon Kiehn is set to give his famous CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) presentation; and there’ll also be a guest from the volunteer program that helps SPD support victims of domestic violence. Everyone welcome – you don’t have to be a captain; you don’t even have to be in a Block Watch, though if you don’t have one, you might want to find out about starting one.

Rational Thought March 24, 2013 (2:05 pm)

I too had a car prowl incident last week near 28th SW and Holden. For the second time in several months, someone opened my passenger door to rummage through the car, taking coins out of the ashtray but that’s about it. Clearly we are seeing a pattern.

G March 24, 2013 (4:52 pm)

I don’t know anyone who HASN’T been car prowled in West Seattle. Seriously.

norskgirl March 24, 2013 (5:16 pm)

Is it known if drunk driving was involved in this wreck(s)?

Horace from Bellevue March 24, 2013 (5:39 pm)

Dear “G”,

Really? I haven’t been car-prowled in West Seattle. But, then, the prowlers are not too interested in my six Ferraris. And two Studebaker Hawks.

“G”,
Is you exaggerating? Just a wee bit?

Alphonse March 24, 2013 (5:46 pm)

The destroyed car in the photo was legally parked on the street (as were all the damaged cars) and doesn’t belong to the “perp”. The driver of the car who did all the damage tried to drive away from the scene, but his car was too badly damaged. After spectacularly failing the field sobriety test, he was handcuffed and taken away (presumably under arrest) and his car was towed away.

This guy was definitely old enough to know that if you’re having trouble standing, you don’t have any business driving. For anyone who may be in this situation, Yellow Cab can be reached 24 x 7 at 206-622-4000. Put it in your phone.

WSB March 24, 2013 (6:42 pm)

The SPD auto-tweets (we carry the feed on the Crime Watch page) show a DUI call in that block this morning (the time is hours later, but sometimes the timestamp is when the report was filed, not when the call came in). Thanks for the update, Alphonse.

Horace from Bellevue March 24, 2013 (6:32 pm)

Just another reason to oppose the cameras focused on Seattle streets and shoreline areas. We wouldn’t want any thugs to be innocently captured, now would we?

Huh? Hello? Anyone out there?

Scott March 24, 2013 (6:56 pm)

Also worth mentioning, my wife’s car (Honda Civic) was stolen from outside our home in 3800 block of 42nd (near Charlestown) Saturday morning and found within 24 hours, although it had been stripped down to the frame and dumped. Not what we needed this weekend. Keep your eyes out; bad stuff going on in our quiet ‘burb.

WSB March 24, 2013 (7:00 pm)

Sorry to hear that. We report stolen vehicles (cars, motorcycles, bicycles, etc.) but the SPD reports on Twitter do *not* mention which part of town, so if we don’t get a report directly from a victim, we can’t report it, and we therefore hadn’t heard about yours – how far away was it when found? Sometimes stolen cars are abandoned blocks away, after the criminal gets to their next stop … TR

Silly Goose March 24, 2013 (8:13 pm)

My car has never been ransacked! I have a garage that is clean enough to park in!

Chris March 24, 2013 (8:35 pm)

I read the WSB every day, and have done so ever since we left it 4.5 years ago. It keeps me in touch with a town I used to love very much but am now increasingly glad we left for sunnier pastures in Arizona. we live in a wonderful , safe community. My children have excellent public schools and a great neighborhood to grow up in. Thankfull every day for the tough decision to leave the Northwest behind. And yes, I am now a gun owner. Just trying to fit in I guess.

WSB March 24, 2013 (8:46 pm)

Chris, sorry you left. But thanks for reading. We do hear from expats now and then and are glad to help people stay in touch wherever they are, whether the news is bad or good … same apparently goes for business travelers, from whom we hear on occasion (and/or whose trails we see in the access logs – somebody reading from a hotel-labeled ISP hundreds or thousands of miles away!). – TR

Chris March 24, 2013 (9:29 pm)

WSB.

Wish we had something as credible as WSB down here. In many ways my heart is still in West Seattle. Regardless of the news, I look forward to checking in.

kayo March 25, 2013 (7:27 am)

Scott, the same thing happened to our car about 7 years ago. It was a huge violation. Still can’t believe we heard nothing that summer night since the car was parked outside our open bedroom window. I’ve also had a car rifled through and a smash and grab (broad day,ight in a very visible area) so I am very aware of NEVER leaving anything of value in my car. Unfortunately, you can’t be too careful when it comes to the creeps that do this type of crime here. It is happening all the time, regardless of location.

phil dirt March 25, 2013 (7:38 am)

Chris, I have friends in Arizona and have frequently visited the state. I think one reason there are so many safe neighborhoods in Arizona is because there are lots of gun owners. Arizona is a gun friendly state, and it seems to help keep the bad guys in check. If I was a criminal, looking for easy targets, I think Seattle would fit my needs quite nicely.

Tony March 25, 2013 (9:31 am)

Re: Yellow Cab

I won’t say what companies I do recommend so this doesn’t look like an ad, but I’ve been not picked up or rejected at the curb by a called in ride request so the cabbie could grab airport bound riders too many times by Yellow Cab to consider them reliable. Have never had this issue with other cab/towncar companies.

thistle stairs March 25, 2013 (9:35 am)

Dirt, Washington state has a 33% gun ownership rate, Arizona has a 31% gun ownership rate. Seattle has an almost free conceal carry permit with no classroom or experience requirement. We have open carry, gun shows, gun suicides, accidental shootings, gang shootings, mass shootings and respectable levels of gun crimes.What is your point? If I was a criminal, looking for an easy target, I would wait for a gun owner to go to work so I could steal their expensive weapons because guns don’t protect themselves.

thistle stairs March 25, 2013 (10:10 am)

Dirt, last one….Bad guys are “in check” in Arizona? So that drug and migrant smuggling superhighway running through the middle of the state is all under control? No serial shooters driving around killing people recently, in say, Phoenix?

Nic March 25, 2013 (10:46 am)

just moved here last August. My car has been broken into twice already. Really unreal.

wsn00b March 25, 2013 (1:42 pm)

@Silly Goose: +1 . Lots of people with garages still park stuff-laden cars on the street. Garages can be broken into too but it raises the bar for the average smash-grab ^55*0le .

Also, Uber is a great very reliable alternative over Yellow Cab. No guesswork, no cab arrival anxiety and the marginal increase in cost is worth it.

Bob H March 25, 2013 (2:11 pm)

I was just in Arizona a month ago and had my backpack heisted from my truck. I guess I’m just complaining more than trying to make a point…

mmk088 March 25, 2013 (2:20 pm)

My car was among those broken into on Saturday night – has anyone founda black and white make-up bag full of make-up on the street or in their yard?

Stor March 25, 2013 (3:45 pm)

We live on 31st and Elmgrove and our pickup truck was rummaged through last night, literally the 1 night I had forgotten to lock it. They didn’t get anything, because we dont leave anything in there specifically because our previous 2 cars have been broken into about once every 2 MONTHS on our street. It happened about 4am this morning, one of our neighbors saw our door open and came out to inspect and shut the door. The same neighbor has a shotgun next to his front door and eventually the luck of these quick little prowlers is going to run out. I for one cannot wait, if its not my neighbors shotgun it will be our 100 lb. Mastiff that gets an early morning snack! It’s just a matter of time…..

Chris March 25, 2013 (4:51 pm)

Bob.
Sorry about your bad experience in my new home.

Thistle
Arizona isn’t perfect, but my family and I feel very safe here and you can’t beat the weather. You do have better food though.

Kristin March 25, 2013 (5:34 pm)

Just wanted to let you know that on 31st ave SW between Thistle and Elmgrove, we experienced 3 car prowls last night. Two of the cars were locked and armed- those folks are thinking that somehow the prowlers have keys to their cars as the alarms didn’t got off. My car, stupidly, was unlocked. Thankfully nothing of HUGE value was taken, but I wanted to get this out there to remind people to take their valuables inside at night.

Stephanie March 25, 2013 (5:48 pm)

My parked car was hit yesterday, Sunday, March 25th on 62nd St outside of Sunfish around 5pm by a new blue Hummer. According to witnesses, the driver acted like she was leaving a note on my windshield, but all it said was “I hit your car. I have insurance!”. I filed a police report, but if anyone has information, I would really appreciate it.

Hap March 25, 2013 (5:55 pm)

There was at least one car prowl in North Admiral early Sunday morning the 24th at our neighbors, and a guitar was presumed ditched near my garage in the alley. Give me a call if you think it belongs to you.
935-4063

WSB March 25, 2013 (5:58 pm)

Hey all – PLEASE send us notes about new incidents that you are mentioning in comments. Comments are read but not nearly as much as the stories on the main page, and we publish a Crime Watch roundup at least once a day. You don’t have to have your name published – we prefer to publish first names, at least, but not mandatory – or contact info; but if you don’t e-mail us, we might not know. Police reports do not come out for days after incidents, and there are no detailed reports of things like car prowls in most cases – editor@westseattleblog.com with the info so we can share it – thank you. – TR

Based God March 25, 2013 (8:58 pm)

Oh, wow, my friend and I literally walked right past that crash site yesterday. This is insane.

Alphonse March 25, 2013 (9:42 pm)

Yellow Cab, Orange Cab, whatever cab – just don’t drive drunk, was my point. Also, I’ve lived in Arizona, and I’ll take the supposed high crime rate in West Seattle over insane racists and gated communities anyday.

BP March 26, 2013 (12:04 am)

Most car alarms don’t go off unless the steering column is altered by someone trying to start it without a key. Most car alarms do not make a peep if windows get smashed, doors unlocked, car ransacked… Trust me. Learned the hard way. Read up on your factory installed alarm system.
Take your valuables out, put the club on, and leave your doors unlocked. Let them find nothing and spare your windows.

Mike March 26, 2013 (12:33 am)

I read this blog regularly. Seems the car crimes are always happening in the same places. Is it that hard for the police to have sting operations and undercover patrols? At a certain point, you have to wonder if someone is looking the other way on purpose.