WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Parking-lot vandalism

| Crime | West Seattle news

First we heard from Lisa, who sent these photos after seeing a man kicking cars in the Jefferson Square parking lot today:

Lisa says the man went into Bartell Drugs – where she had been shopping – “and was escorted out by an employee.” She called 911.

One of the damaged cars belonged to John, who emailed us later in the afternoon – not the first time he has sent a report for Crime Watch recently, as he noted:

Two weeks ago I sent you a note about my stolen catalytic converter.

Today Sunday Oct 3 2021, 12:30pm at the Safeway store in Jefferson Square. When I parked in the busy parking lot, I noticed a deranged man waving and yelling idiotic non-legible rants. I went in the store, shopped and when I returned to my car (a 2007 Honda Element), I noticed a huge dent in my driver’s side door, and a couple smaller dents on that side of the car.

He says witnesses told him what had happened. We don’t know if police caught up with the man; the incident number is 21-261445.

Bmc October 3, 2021 (11:45 pm)

Where are “all the men in the little white coats” when you need them… Doesn’t this warrant a 72 hour involuntary commitment?

Brian October 4, 2021 (9:06 am)

All of that money went away in the late 80s. Strangely right around the time police budgets ballooned. Who could have predicted this outcome???
- My two cents … October 4, 2021 (1:47 pm)
  
  Please provide some references for your statement.
  - Ron Swanson October 4, 2021 (4:20 pm)
    
    Here’s a detailed summary of the timeline: the gist of it is that the community-based mental health project begun by Kennedy reached a conclusion with Carter’s Mental Health Systems Act of 1979 which would have dramatically improved funding for mental health. It was repealed as part of Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts and the problem has only gotten worse since then.
    
    https://www.kqed.org/news/11209729/did-the-emptying-of-mental-hospitals-contribute-to-homelessness-here
- Really? October 4, 2021 (1:54 pm)
  
  Proof? Please provide a link regarding your comment.
  - TTT October 4, 2021 (8:15 pm)
    
    Proof? Check out western mental health hospital. How many floor or beds are available in total and how many open on a given day. No mental health workers in the jails to do evaluations over the weekends so people may be released without services because they cannot legally be held over the legal limit of hours. Mental health has been defunded for many many years here

West Seattle Mad Sci Guy October 4, 2021 (8:19 am)

I saw this man. Glad I walked to the store. He was just having a typical ‘have an argument with the air in front of him’ type of episode.

Alki resident October 4, 2021 (8:37 am)

I know who you’re talking about and every time I drive by him, it’s clear he’s gotten much worse and perhaps off of his meds as well. It’s clear he needs to be removed from our area as his destruction has moved to a different level.

Mel October 4, 2021 (9:02 am)

That’s the problem. We don’t have a way to remove people when they because a danger to us unless they commit a larger crime. I’m with you though. We should be able to walk through the junction and feel safe, that’s starting to not be the case.
- Hmmm October 4, 2021 (4:47 pm)
  
  I would hope this would be reason enough for jail. This could escalate. If he’s 6’1, that’s a lot bigger than me. If he did that to my car, I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it except hope he doesn’t focus his rage on me. Btw, is this kind of thing considered a misdemeanor or felony?
  - Ice October 5, 2021 (12:07 pm)
    
    Locking him up for 5 days in an incredibly small and abusive space and then dumping him right back onto the street and saying ‘don’t do that again’ isn’t going to keep you any safer. Statistically speaking, he is going to be more likely to do this type of thing again.
Bmc October 4, 2021 (9:24 am)

So which guy is he? Physical description please?
- Alki resident October 4, 2021 (10:25 am)
  
  White guy, 6ft. 1ish and thin.Short combed back brown hair. Often dresses in character and sits at bus stop bench by Easy Street. Flails his arms while talking to himself. Heavy smoker. Can be seen at times with his grocery cart of possessions. I’ve known him for years. He used to work in West Seattle at grocery stores before things got real bad for him. I friended him and tried to help but he becomes scary and offensive so I backed off for my safety.
  - Junction October 4, 2021 (10:41 am)
    
    Is it Chet? I’ve known him to be “crazy” but never physical. Things must be getting worse. Sometimes he is dressed very nice and is cleaned up. Then I’ll see him a week later and he’s a mess.
    - Alki resident October 4, 2021 (3:23 pm)
      
      Yes it’s Chet. He’s gotten much worse which makes me think he’s not on his meds. He can be extremely confrontational which is why I backed off.
    - John Douthwaite October 4, 2021 (5:04 pm)
      
      Chet damaged my car. I’d like to have a little chat with Chet. Nice and friendly like when he kicked in my innocent car’s door! We’ll find you Chet.

Nope October 4, 2021 (10:04 am)

Another reason this is literally the worst parking lot in West Seattle.

S.A. October 4, 2021 (12:02 pm)

What are the other reasons?
- PC October 4, 2021 (6:30 pm)
  
  There have been complaints going back several years. The stalls are too narrow so getting your can dinged is common. It’s also hard to get in and out of your vehicle if someone parks next to you because of the stall size. People don’t follow the one way design so people are driving the wrong way right at you some times. The design also causes back ups if one person is waiting for a parking spot vs just driving to the next open one. A couple of days ago I was there and a big yellow delivery truck was sitting in front of Bartell Drugs so anyone heading that direction from Safeway was stuck until the truck moved.
  - Hmmm October 5, 2021 (8:28 am)
    
    Are the stalls too narrow or the cars too big? Might be time to start thinking compact….

William M Powers October 4, 2021 (10:51 am)

https://www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/inslee-announces-5-year-plan-shift-civil-mental-health-out-big-state-hospitals-favor

Mj October 4, 2021 (10:57 am)

And the victims are left with the costs associated with getting their vehicles fixed!

John October 4, 2021 (5:00 pm)

Yes and that is what REALLY upsets me. I go shopping before the big game, idiot boy kicks in my car door and I have to pay for the damage. $500 deductible. This idiot owes me at least $500.

Cranky October 4, 2021 (12:28 pm)

heh… seems we are going to go from ‘gee, where should we go in west seattle’to ‘this is definitely NOT where to go’ (of course, it’s starting to look like you take your chances no matter what end of California av you go to.

skeeter October 4, 2021 (2:22 pm)

I still love West Seattle. But spend a few hours in downtown Bellevue. In downtown Redmond. I can see why people want to live there. They just don’t have these problems on anywhere near the scale of Seattle.

The Hepcat October 4, 2021 (2:26 pm)

This happened to me last summer. I drove up my dad’s expensive Italian convertible from Southern California to enjoy for the Summer. Driving with the top down eastbound on Trenton, 2 kids lobbed chunks of concrete, rebar, rocks and assorted debris over the black chain link fence across from the Post Office parking lot. A five inch chunk of concrete took out my hood and windshield. I could have been killed. Police responded and took a report, as the kids took off on their bikes. Made appointment the next day for an estimate. That night, I drove the damaged car to Thriftway to pick up a few things and went home. Next morning I took my car to the body shop for an estimate, and discovered an 8 inch dent in the rear quarter panel that was not there before. I was speechless. Before I exploded, the estimator told me this happens so much nowadays to expensive cars, the insurance companies have a category for this: “Spite Kicks.” sure enough, he shined a flashlight at an angle on the dent and a shoeprint became visible. Car was repaired (to the tune of $29,000) and returned to SoCal.Sadly, this is the new, tribalized, class-centered (and classless) Seattle. Nothing is safe, nothing is respected. I thought West Seattle might be immune, or at least delayed in experiencing this type of behavior, but it’s on the rise. I no longer feel safe here. Unfortunately, you get what you vote for, and people will accept what they’re told is the “New Normal” unless and until change happens. I’m afraid we don’t have that kind of time.

Pessoa October 5, 2021 (8:25 am)

Hepcat: I think it goes deeper than politics or public policy. There is little or no conception of private property in Seattle and I suspect this is a long standing cultural attitude and it is exhibited by all, regardless of socioeconomic status. I have had seemingly well-educated people help themselves to apples off my tree without asking, as if they were entitled to them. Bizarre. No one would think of doing this in LA.

We Told You So October 4, 2021 (2:46 pm)

Almost 30 years ago when King County was proposing an urban village for the Alaska Junction thousands of us said it was going to be a miniature downtown Seattle with similar street crime……and that’s exactly what it is today.

sgs October 4, 2021 (3:44 pm)

A man matching this description is having an episode at the junction bus stop right now. He is not doing anything destructive, so I don’t feel like I can call 911, but he definitely is yelling at the air. My daughter was coming home from school and is rightfully frightened.

John October 4, 2021 (10:42 pm)

Please call 911 and they will catch this Ahole and save us all alot of trouble, one at a time

Pessoa October 4, 2021 (6:53 pm)

More mental care is a fine idea – but what kind? The idea that severe mental illness is treatable by anti-psychotics is dubious at best. They might be beneficial in stabilizing a patient temporarily but there are many psychologists who worry about their long term use. I believe talk therapy is much more effective, but it is cheaper and easier to dispense a medication.

Ice October 5, 2021 (12:02 pm)

Medication and talk therapy aren’t mutually exclusive and go hand in hand. You cannot have talk therapy with someone who isn’t coherent. Also, anti-psychotics are only one class of medication that is given for mental illness and there are many many others depending on the diagnosis. You are making a disingenuous or completely uninformed argument.
- Pessoa October 5, 2021 (10:23 pm)
  
  Again, I said anti-psychotics may be helpful in stabilizing an individual so they may benefit from talk therapy. But the notion that mental illness is a disease process that can be treated like diabetes is a myth that Big Pharma is happy to perpetuate.You no more treat the underlying cause of mental illness with psychoactives than you treat a cold with cough syrup.

22blades October 5, 2021 (5:45 am)

We are not that far behind San Francisco: Fully nude people ranting in the middle of the street, defecating in broad daylight on the sidewalk, whole busses clearing out at a stoplight for a human pinball… Meanwhile in the Mediterranean, the Sackler’s sample a fine Chardonnay on the mid-deck of their super-yacht. They had to downsize from a mega-yacht. Settlement is harsh.

BJG October 5, 2021 (9:22 am)

If the medications to manage psychoses were available, and appropriately dispensed and titrated, and if these “patients” were scheduled for follow-up care at perhaps Harborview or VA, who would see to it that they take their meds and keep appointments? This man is not capable of any of that. And I’m sure he’s been seen before. He does not know what day it is, let alone where his last meds are now or why he might have them. He needs a housing situation that will allow 24 hour management of his care and that he cannot leave. That place is not currently available. If he starts hitting people instead of cars, he’ll just cycle through the jail again. I’m sure he’s been there before. I am living at the edge of the Junction. My husband walks the dog so I won’t have to, but really he’s no match for this “neighbor” when he’s florid and you never know. He bashed in the side of my neighbor’s car last week with a rock at the stoplight. There’s really nowhere to get away from him when he’s in a rage.Just an aside as a RN, ask any health care provider, up to half of competent patients fail to take prescribed medications as ordered. This poor man is totally unable to keep a schedule so an outpatient visit will do him no long-term good.

Ice October 5, 2021 (4:08 pm)

Yep, this is exactly the kind of person our current systems fail. I’ve never dealt with this guy myself, but there are many others like him. People who have mental illness, cannot make good decisions for themselves, and are left to rot until they boil over and commit some kind of idiotic crime like this. They are then stuck in jail, which sweeps the problem under the carpet for about a week, and then dumped right back onto the street, with their victim complex stoked up and more angry and less likely to function than before. Worse yet, the prevailing idea seems to be that we should wait until people in these circumstances somehow come to their senses and accept help voluntarily, see doctors/psychologists, and find the resources that they need to retake control of their mind when they cannot even carry on a coherent conversation. This guy is just going to be a thorn in the side of whatever community he is in, and the cops, who are completely unprepared to solve the problems that is causing this guy to act out, will be the ones who have to deal with him every time he boils over.
- S.A. October 6, 2021 (8:54 am)
  
  All of this.But providing people with supportive housing and a basic income is seen in some circles as “giving people something for free” and “rewarding bad behavior” so folks would rather pay for a carceral system that does nothing but cycle people around and around and around, with more psychological and financial damage each time.

Pessoa October 5, 2021 (1:53 pm)

IAs someone who has been responsible for making mental healthcare decisions for a relative, and having seen more adult homes (including Western State) than I care to admit, I can say with good certainty that the system is utterly broken. Contrary to what many believe there is zero evidence that medications, either garden variety anti-depressants or powerful anti-psychotics do anything other than treat symptoms, with all the nuances of a sledgehammer. They may be useful in the short term, and in certain situations, but the long term effects of dramatically altering the brains neuronal circuitry is very alarming. They don’t get better, because the notion that there is a “chemical imbalance” is not backed up by research.

Pessoa October 6, 2021 (9:17 am)

When society acknowledges that mental illness in all of its various manifestations is not an aberration of the Human Condition but an integral part of the Human Condition, then we can begin reshaping he view and trat the so-called “mentally ill.” Until then our mental healthcare system will be lost in the Dark Ages, institutions crammed with over medicated patients.

John October 7, 2021 (10:37 pm)

and some crazy dude can come and kick your driver’s side door in, I suppose that’s OK in your world…what if it was YOUR car?

John October 8, 2021 (11:54 am)

I’d rather this crazy man was crammed into an institution rather than wandering around our community kicking random cars…to the price of a $2,500 repair bill. I’d like him to pay for the damage and be charged with the crime. Too much hand wringing worriers concerned over his well being.

Sorry, comment time is over.