WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Early-morning search; car prowl; Gatewood followup

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~~Two~~ Three incidents in West Seattle Crime Watch:

EARLY-MORNING SEARCH: Several people have asked about an early-morning search – around 2:40 am – in the Fairmount Park area, including a K-9 team. SPD tells us it was related to a domestic-violence case (which is why no related incident # shows on the 911 map/tweet log), and that officers did not find the person they were looking for.

CAR PROWL: Thanks to Anna for the reader report:

I wanted to share my car prowl report on 47th Ave SW and Murray Ave SW. At around 2AM, someone parked across from our driveway, opened our car doors and took miscellaneous loose belongings. I filed an online report with SPD (T2000390 tracking number). Just wanted to let others in the neighborhood know so that they can take preventive measures.

GATEWOOD FOLLOWUP (added 12:05 pm): Moments after we published the above two items, SPD Blotter posted a followup on the Gatewood incident we covered yesterday afternoon, so we’re adding it:

Officers arrested a 23-year-old man and recovered a handgun and small amounts of narcotics Tuesday after they found a man slumped over in a running vehicle in a West Seattle alleyway.

Shortly after 2:30 PM, police responded to a report of a man slumped over in running white, orange, and black Honda Civic, which was blaring loud music, in the 6900 block of 37th Avenue Southwest.

When officers arrived, they peered through the car’s tinted windows and saw a man slumped over in the driver’s seat of the running vehicle, and noticed a pistol protruding from in between the car’s front passenger seat and console.

Officers unsuccessfully attempted to rouse the driver, and found the car’s doors were locked, so they broke out the vehicle’s passenger-side window. The driver eventually woke up and was ordered to exit his car. As he did so, a baggie of narcotics fell from his lap onto the ground.

Officers then found small amounts of heroin, meth, Xanax, marijuana and pistol and two loaded magazines inside the vehicle. A loaded magazine was recovered from the front passenger seat. Another loaded magazine was recovered from inside the glove box. The vehicle was secured and left at the scene.

Officers arrested the 23-year-old man and booked him into the King County Jail for narcotics possession and DUI.

Reader report/tip for Crime Watch? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302 voice/text – thank you!

Pilsner January 8, 2020 (12:50 pm)

I suggest mandatory GPS tracking on vehicles possesed by criminals. And they pay for it, like the blow-n-go thingy’s. It might help a little.

valvashon January 8, 2020 (2:42 pm)

That Gatewood Followup is quite the cautionary tale. There’s a lifetime of bad choices there for being only 23.

Will S. January 8, 2020 (3:15 pm)

Based on the police report of the Gatewood incident, there’s a decent-to-fair chance that this search and seizure violated the driver’s constitutional rights, so it’s perhaps a bit early to suggest novel sentences that might help only a little. But assuming the police report is credible, I wouldn’t really fault the police here–they might have saved the driver from overdosing, and they took quite a risk smashing through a window to crawl over a pistol to see if the driver was dead or alive. Addiction is a terrible disease, and police have a hard job.

WSB January 8, 2020 (3:29 pm)

I heard most of this play out over emergency radio and the basics concur with what officers were radioing in. I talked to the MR office briefly just to find out what led to the response in the first place (suspicious idling car) – at that time, the info on what they did (arrested him) and found (guns/drugs) was not available. – TR
G WS January 8, 2020 (5:06 pm)

Will S you might want to return your law degree. An unresponsive person, in a running car, with a gun visible, on a public street, is MORE than enough prob cause. In fact it’s the exact situation in which we want our police to act!
- Will S. January 8, 2020 (5:57 pm)
  
  If it’s probable cause, then they can call a magistrate and get a search warrant. But this appears to be a warrantless search, and the applicable exception to the warrant requirement might not be broad enough to let them use evidence (including of the driver’s intoxication) obtained after they smashed their way into the car. (You’ll notice that the driver wasn’t charged with any gun crime, presumably because none occurred.)
  - WSB January 8, 2020 (6:32 pm)
    
    The report is not about charges, which will be up to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and typically take at least a few days (this arrest happened just yesterday) if not longer.
    - Will S. January 8, 2020 (7:51 pm)
      
      Thank you, WSB. I meant to say that the driver was “booked” for DUI and possession of controlled substances (not a gun offense, because these facts don’t show any gun offense).
    - WSB January 8, 2020 (8:07 pm)
      
      Also note for those interested, the person on the jail register who I believe to be the suspect in this case (age, booking time, alleged violation match) has been released. Doesn’t mean he won’t be charged, but he is not currently in custody. He does not appear to have much of a record.

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