Three items in West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon:

CAR PROWL ALERT: Received from Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Danner:

The SW Precinct has recently seen an increase in car prowl incidents in our William 2 (W2) patrol beat area, specifically on and around Beach Drive SW. These incidents are mostly occurring in the night time hours.

Here is the link to our Patrol Beat/Sector map. In order to address this increase, we would like to remind our community about the following car prowl prevention strategies:

• Check vehicle regularly (especially important during COVID times)
• Never leave valuables in plain view
• Hide chargers and accessories that indicate an electronic device may be in the vehicle
• Remove garage door openers, key cards and other keys from the vehicle
• If possible, park vehicle in a busy, locked, monitored and/or well-lit area
• Install anti-theft devices
• If possible, activate alarm

And from the SPD “significant incident” file, two summaries of note about arrests this past Sunday:

SHOPLIFTING TURNS TO ROBBERY: This happened in the 7300 block of Delridge:

On 10-25-2020 at 1632 hours, a subject was contacted by store security after they witnessed him shoplifting inside of a local business. Security attempted to contact the subject about merchandise taken when the subject pulled out a knife and threatened security staff. Subject left area on foot as officers arrived in the area. A student officer spotted a subject matching the description a block away and detained him for investigation. A witness from the store positively identified the subject as the person that pulled a knife. He was placed into custody and booked into King County Jail.

WEST MARGINAL CRASH FOLLOWUP: We briefly reported on this crash in realtime early Sunday. The “significant incident” summary reveals it had a backstory:

On 10/25/2020 at 0131 hours, the Washington State Patrol was actively pursuing a vehicle which exited SR599 and continued northbound on city streets, eventually heading north on W Marginal Wy SW. The suspect vehicle came upon a large gathering of vehicles and, after performing a U-turn, continued southbound on W Marginal Wy SW. The suspect vehicle entered the intersection of Highland Park Wy SW against a red light and subsequently collided with a motorist. The suspect driver fled on foot. WSP notified nearby agencies requesting a fast back. SPD SW and S units, Port of Seattle and King County units responded. WSP was able to capture the suspect and take him into custody. SPD assisted further with traffic control while SFD cut two passengers out of the victim vehicle. WSP is conducting the follow-up investigation.