WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Stolen Santa Cruz bicycle; (added) search for car after plea for help

| Crime | West Seattle news

1:39 PM: Peter sent the photo and report:

My bike was stolen near Bonair and Sunset on May 6th around 5:00 pm. The suspect had been walking with a gas can to his car but after seeing my bike he dropped the can, grabbed my bike and headed downhill. I called the cops and mentioned that the car he was walking to didn’t have any plates and had a busted out passenger side window. An officer responded to the scene and confirmed that the Blue Hyundai Tucson was stolen.

I attached a pic of my bike. It is a 2014 Black Santa Cruz Bronson.

If you find it, let us know and we’ll connect you. Preliminary SPD tracking # (pending official report #) is T22011584.

2:34 PM: Ami says police are looking for this car after a plea for help:

At 1150 am Saturday May 7th several people witnessed a young caucasian female with blonde hair screaming “HELP ME CALL 911” while being forced into a vehicle by a young male with shaved short hair at the end of Webster St near Home Depot right by the police precinct.. Everyone that witnessed did call 911 and they are looking for the vehicle now.

The plate starts with BYT7. Call 911 if you see it. It appears from Tweets by Beat that the incident # is 22-114642.

ADDED MONDAY: We followed up with SPD today. There is no formal report associated with the incident, so no further information.

WSobserver May 7, 2022 (6:46 pm)

I’m staggered that WSB added a forcible abduction in broad daylight – to a stolen bicycle report.

I would think that a live kidnapping/abduction would merit its own headline ~

WSB May 7, 2022 (7:06 pm)

That was the quickest way to get that up at the time. I also have absolutely no way of finding out whether this has been resolved but posted it anyway.
- WS Resident May 7, 2022 (7:19 pm)
  
  It’s not too late to make it its’ own headline… and change the headline to include kidnapping or abduction. Poor journalism.
  - Ivan Weiss May 8, 2022 (6:35 am)
    
    It takes some big-time unmitigated gall to accuse WSB of “poor journalism.” I spent three decades plus in daily newspaper journalism, and I never saw anyone assume, much less sustain, the work load that Tracy puts in. Cut her some slack, OK?
    - WS Resident May 8, 2022 (3:48 pm)
      
      Ivan Weiss – HA. I was a journalism major – I think I have SOME credibility here. A kidnapping was literally added to the bottom of an article where a bike theft was highlighted and “plea for help” is so vague, it could easily be skipped over. We can argue all day back forth and forth. Journalism is incredibly hard and time consuming work – that’s not being denied – but in my opinion (because opinions are still a thing regardless), this was not the best way to bring attention to a kidnapping in broad daylight.
  - WSREZZ May 9, 2022 (2:27 pm)
    
    You claim to be a journalism major while stating this is a kidnapping with NO evidence. WSB had so little info about this. For all we know, this could have been teens playing a prank.
- HHansen May 7, 2022 (8:19 pm)
  
  This happened right near my apartment complex. Please follow up. We are all very scared and concerned. I’m worried about this woman’s safety.
  - Alki resident May 7, 2022 (8:37 pm)
    
    Did anyone at the complex figure out who she is? I hope those plates actually belonged to that car.
  - WSB May 7, 2022 (8:52 pm)
    
    All I can do until the public-affairs office reopens Monday morning (the people to whom I can give an incident # and ask what ultimately happened) is continue monitoring – the Tweets by Beat call log is more comprehensive than it used to be, and there are no missing-person or abduction reports; this call was categorized as “complaint of unknown nature.”
    https://twitter.com/SeattlePDF1/status/1523018340054102016
    Since police were given a full plate number, we can hope that they would have gone to the registered owner’s address.
    - Alki resident May 7, 2022 (9:10 pm)
      
      Not the point. Having a larger audience seeing an actual post might spark a memory of something someone saw or maybe add to this something they know.
Alki resident May 7, 2022 (7:56 pm)

I agree. I’m mortified as well.
- Arbor Heights May 7, 2022 (9:54 pm)
  
  Call customer service, I’m sure they’ll offer you a full refund.

WS Dog Mom May 7, 2022 (9:04 pm)

I don’t understand the negative comments. WS Blog does a fabulous job of keeping us all informed. Thanks for all you do!

Friend O'Dinghus May 7, 2022 (9:18 pm)

Seconded WS Dog Mom. We are damned lucky to have such a remarkable community resource.
- Chris D May 7, 2022 (9:43 pm)
  
  Agreed, knock it off, doesn’t matter whether it was the only headline or merged, those who read the blog will catch both. Thanks WSB for the excellent coverage.
  - WW Resident May 8, 2022 (7:53 am)
    
    It actually DOES matter. To headline a bicycle and then add on a potential kidnapping is utterly ridiculous
New Salt May 7, 2022 (10:26 pm)

The benefit that WSB provides to this community is insane. It’s almost immeasurable given the current economic state of local news reporting. I too am interested in the outcome of an observed abduction and doing what is possible to aid in the resolution, but WSB has been reporting for years on cases and issues that would otherwise go unnoticed and unpublished. Anyone upset at WSB’s reporting has clearly lost the thread. TR is one of the most classy and professional individuals I’ve ever encountered.
AlkiBiach May 8, 2022 (9:03 am)

Well said WS Dog Mom. WS Blog- thank you for doing a fantastic job keeping us informed. You Critics stop howling. “Never explain, never retract, never apologize. Just get the thing done and let them howl.” — Nellie McClung

Ron M May 8, 2022 (3:36 am)

This is terrifying. I’m confident WSB will update once they find out more, they always do.Ridiculous that people feel so entitled to actually give WSB negative comments and claim “poor journalism”. Those people should go check the other local news/media agencies, see if any of this is even mentioned. I can hardly read any other local news sites due to the amount of ads, mediocre writing, and just awful quality of work. Support our local WSB and the work they do, they are a vitally important resource to this community. We’re fortunate to have them.Thank you to everyone at WSB for all that you do.

aa May 8, 2022 (5:56 am)

If you really have a complaint about a post by WSB, I think you should contact them directly. I also think that people who are upset about ‘poor journalist’ are probably upset about the situation and unfairly blaming WSB as a misdirection of their feelings.

West Woman May 8, 2022 (8:00 am)

I agree! Thank you WSB for everything you do to keep the West Seattle community informed.

Alki resident May 8, 2022 (9:55 am)

Nobody is denying the work WSB does. Had this been your daughter getting kidnapped, what type of headline would you want? I think we’d want as much attention brought to her situation as possible and fast.

Reality Check May 8, 2022 (12:05 pm)

If it was my daughter that was kidnapped the last thing on my mind would be “ Oh boy, I hope the WSB has a catchy title for this one”!… Thank you WSB for all you do for the community. Keep up the fantastic work!
Oh Seattle May 8, 2022 (12:15 pm)

If it was my “daughter getting kidnapped” I’d want the police and FBI on it. I would actually prefer it not to be published on a neighborhood news site where no one has a clue what actually happened or whether having “attention brought to her situation” may be dangerous for the outcome.
- Alki resident May 8, 2022 (2:15 pm)
  
  There were many witnesses to this actually. Why not put it in a local page where it happened locally? Hopefully this never happens to your family.

winniegirl May 8, 2022 (10:39 am)

I agree that placing a potential abduction as an addendum is odd. And, if a traditional news outlet followed the same approach people would rightly push back. I think that where it gets muddled is that either the West Seattle Blog is a personal blog/community resource where people know the staff by their first names or it’s news source/business that should expect pushback and accountability. People perceive it both ways. I think that it strives to be the latter and that holds true as we fund the blog with our clicks and ad dollars. Pushback to a business is not personal criticism.

Protect women from violence May 8, 2022 (11:28 am)

The situation with the young woman is very concerning, hope she is okay. Definately eclipses the bike theft. Good that people witnessed this and called police on her behalf. I wonder if it’s truly a kidnapping/abduction situation or a domestic fight? Either way, a woman being forced into a car and yelling for help is very concerning! Thanks for reporting this WSB, and hope there will be more follow up, and confirmation they are okay.

MoJoe Rizin May 8, 2022 (1:21 pm)

The WS Blog provides exemplary journalism, and it is powered by people who give a damn. I am confident they would gladly accept volunteer assistance rather than listen to the whiney complainers who contribute nothing but their weak radical issues that quite frankly are not relevant to the solution and probably impede the forward motion of solving any issue. Written by a competitor Blog photojournalist.

CarDriver May 8, 2022 (1:30 pm)

WS res;wsobserver. What are YOU doing to find the car/person???

kbd May 8, 2022 (8:09 pm)

I saw Ami’s post about this in a group I am in. I asked if she had contacted WSB. Another commenter posted the contact info. I was impressed with how quickly it was posted here!

Peter May 9, 2022 (3:32 pm)

I saw a car matching this description pull into the garage of the apartment at 3295 Avalon Way at 1:00pm today although I can not confirm the license plate. I called 911 and got transferred to the Non emergency line. I’ve was on hold for an hour, hung up, tried again but no luck getting through. I figured I would post to let someone know. It must be a busy day.

WS Res May 9, 2022 (4:43 pm)

While we’re touting the benefits of WSBlog and the hard work that goes into it, I’m wondering if there is a Patreon where we could sign up to pledge monthly support? I support some of the other local grass-roots journalists this way and would gladly support WSB. – (Not the same poster as “WS Resident” above who has so much to complain about!)