65 Replies to "READER REPORT: Early-morning scare at the door"

• KB January 14, 2024 (3:50 pm)

  Thanks for sharing! It’s reassuring to hear the methods that were used so as to be prepared if this happens to us.

• David January 14, 2024 (3:52 pm)

  I have found from experience in two very similar situations that saying the words “I am in fear for my life – I am armed – if he breaks the door down I will defend myself “ gets the cops out real fast – the first time was two cars in 90 seconds the second was two cars in less than five minutes

  • KelpHead January 14, 2024 (5:10 pm)

    Yes!!!! It’s sad, though, that such measures are required for a timely response. 

  • Al King January 14, 2024 (5:12 pm)

    Friend in Tacoma did that. Police said they had nobody available to respond. Friend told 911 operator they had their shotgun and would handle it and hung up. 5 Minutes later there were 6 TPD cars there.

    • Derp January 14, 2024 (6:37 pm)

      Unless there is a major threat,  not a good idea to tell them something that may or may not be true. If it isn’t true, you can be held accountable for the false information.  It could also take away from people that could actually need help,  if you cry wolf. Not saying it isn’t a threat, but use GOOD judgement if you do this. And could be a waste of resources that are thin already. Just my two cents

      • Resident January 14, 2024 (6:45 pm)

        Someone you don’t know at your door at 3am and isn’t leaving. That is an emergency. You don’t wait for them to break in.

        • South Park resident January 15, 2024 (6:00 am)

          I agree completely. My only thought is, you should have told the cops you were armed and been telling the truth!

      • David January 15, 2024 (8:04 am)

        In the first case I mentioned the uninvited guest was kicking our door and verbally threatening us – he was arrested – he was high on something and had the wrong house – in the second case the person was screaming and attempting to access the house next door while the family was on vacation and occasionally roaming the neighborhood – the police did an excellent job of getting him to move on without an arrest – he seemed to have a mental crisis going on – both were frightening and justified in my discussion with 911

    • Big Dave January 14, 2024 (8:44 pm)

      Honesty is the best policy. 

• sugar wish January 14, 2024 (4:12 pm)

  We’ve had similar things recently where the yard is well lit, the cars are parked in the driveway right by the front porch with Ring Doorbell, and the person checking the car doors to see if they’re unlocked even looks up at the porch with the bright porch light on them.  We get instant alerts, and have once gotten immediate police response to no avail finding the perp, but the last time we called police they never came at least not to our knowledge. My family member wants to go right out after them in the middle of night. I’ve had to talk him out of it each time, cause I know it would not end well.  

• Vee January 14, 2024 (4:29 pm)

  Maybe he needed help or was very cold, he rang doorbell, maybe could have called out to him 

  • Orb January 14, 2024 (8:52 pm)

    Why take any chances? If he’s cold, he needs to go to a homeless shelter (or his own home); not a strangers house at 4 AM.

  • Rhonda January 15, 2024 (11:50 am)

    Vee, NEVER open the door or engage with a strange man on your family’s porch at 4am. It’s simply too dangerous and could cost you or your loved one(s) their lives. Get police there ASAP.

  • Jim P. January 15, 2024 (9:03 pm)

    This is how people wind up dead or in a horrible situation.  Criminals know there are softhearted people who won’t bother to ask why the person isn’t standing where they can be clearly seen or why they came to the middle of a residential block (as an example) in looking for shelter.More and more, in a lot of places, calling the police simply gets you put on hold or told there’s no one coming any time soon.

• Thomas January 14, 2024 (4:39 pm)

  I’ve said over and over are safety is in our hands.This is just another example Criminals know  that SPD is understaffed and can’t respond in a timely manner. For me I will take appropriate measures to protect myself and family

• Shadowtripper January 14, 2024 (5:01 pm)

  Incredible that we live in a time when anyone might get awakened  from a sound sleep and see a man on their porch.   I’m sure the kids are traumatized as are the adults.   We can’t count on police response any longer as the department is understaffed and calls are sorted by need to respond.  This call was perhaps thought to be a trespassing call and not an immediate threat.  My advice is:  Keep a fob car key on bed stand.  Do exactly what these people did; protect the children, alert the police.  Then set off the house alarm if there is one.  Either way set off the car alarm (s) using the key fob.  It works from inside most houses.  This maybe enough to scare off the intruder or at least alert neighbors of the incident which could bring assistance. The last thing we want is a shoulder or foot breaking through our front door at four in the morning.  We really need to clean up the streets of these criminals.  And at four am I am calling this man a very likely intruder criminal.  Good thing the door wasn’t opened.   I’m sure someone will say;  It was probably a drunk coming home to wrong house at four am.  Yes there are people who would think that.  

  • Community Member January 14, 2024 (8:44 pm)

    Yes, I will say it:

     It was probably a drunk coming home to wrong house at four am. 

    This happened to me decades ago. It was frightening. But it really did turn out to be someone who was drunk/high and confused.

• 937 January 14, 2024 (6:05 pm)

  This happened to us recently. I unlocked my firearm and calmly and clearly stated to the individual ‘There are women and children present. If you do not leave the premises you will be shot’ Offender apologized and went on their way.

  Remember people, when seconds count, the police are minutes (or in “Reader’s” case, hours) away

• Mark January 14, 2024 (7:09 pm)

  This story is extremely troubling to me.  I understand how our police are understaffed, and for that I blame previous politicians.  I feel naive to believe that a family should feel reasonably safe in their home, and if bad stuff happens, police could respond within 20 minutes, or less.  Short of a disaster happening on the other side of the city, I cannot fathom an excuse for a 2 hour wait.  If someone had gotten hurt, this would be a national news story. That said, the key fob triggering a car alarm is indeed a pretty good idea!

  • Amy January 14, 2024 (7:33 pm)

    Can you please provide facts to what the previous politicians did in fact to understaff the police dept.

    • CC January 14, 2024 (8:22 pm)

      Thank you.

    • Big Dave January 14, 2024 (8:49 pm)

      They continuously badmouthed our police department, and abandoned citizens and the east precinct while our city was under attack by troublesome out of towners. Our leaders’ poor personnel management led to heretofore unseen morale issues resulting in one third of the police force taking their training to other jurisdictions. That’s what they did.

      • Jort January 14, 2024 (9:50 pm)

        So they quit because … the politicians said mean things and that hurt their feelings? Gotcha. Man, that’s a tough break, to hear people say mean things about you. Dang. Politicians, even. Tough break on that one. 

      • Anywhere but here January 14, 2024 (10:03 pm)

        They left because they were finally being held accountable for their racism and lawlessness, proving that they never cared about the citizens of Seattle in the first place. It’s never been about public service,  it’s always been about power. 

        • Big Dave January 14, 2024 (10:51 pm)

          If you don’t like the way the workers do their job blame management. We’ve suffered one miserable mayor after another. And our city council has been a national laughingstock. They have the power – not the workers.

      • Jason January 14, 2024 (10:08 pm)

        Big Dave, the politicians hurt their feelings so they quit? Is that also what led some of them to storm the Capitol too? Sara Nelson herself said it’s a nationwide problem (after ignoring that when needing to spam you with attack mailers and buy votes for her conservative clique)

        • Big Dave January 15, 2024 (5:12 pm)

          Most folks would look for other work if they discovered that their employers publicly discussed downsizing the company. Especially after the likes of city attorney Pete holmes, who let 1400 cases stack up for the new city attorney who had to drop most of them due to a statute of limitations clause. From the mayor to the city council, to the chief of police and the city attorney, law and order was not their priority. And when employees feel under appreciated they leave if they can. To more welcoming employers in places they can afford a home and raise a family. Proper management helps to reduce costly employee migration. It probably costs $200k the first year to hire and train a cop. Kind of expensive for we taxpayers to see him leave after two or three years.  

    • Thomas January 14, 2024 (10:43 pm)

      Do you really need it explained to you

• Joe January 14, 2024 (7:11 pm)

  A similar incident happened to us about 20 years ago. It took 4 hours for the police to arrive then. They were apologetic saying that it had been a crazy Friday night. After that incident, I’ve always made sure I had the means to protect myself in my own home.

• sue January 14, 2024 (7:45 pm)

  We need to pay our police officers triple in order for them to be able to live in Seattle.  This would help with recruitment which is a huge problem. Their job is more dangerous now than ever!  You couldn’t pay me enough to do their job!  To SPD’s defense, if something horrific is in progress that is where officers are sent.  they are triaged to situations like patients in an emergency room.  Sadly, you did not get an immediate response. That sounded really scary, how traumatic for your family.

  • Anywhere but here January 14, 2024 (8:27 pm)

    So if it was so horrific, what was it? You’d think we would have heard about it if it took all the cops in the sw precinct, right? Especially from the WSB. 

    • 937 January 14, 2024 (8:59 pm)

      Reading comprehension is real.

  • MacJ January 14, 2024 (9:23 pm)

    The cops are better paid than most tech workers.

    • Big Dave January 15, 2024 (8:17 am)

      Rightfully so. The cop risks his life every night. The tech worker not so much.

      • Felix Grounds January 16, 2024 (10:26 am)

        Big Dave, police work is #22 on the list of dangerous occupations, behind a bunch of seemingly mundane occupations you see everyday.Sanitation workers are more likely to suffer fatal injuries than police.Police morale is a police problem, not the publics for holding them accountable.Police culture needs to change.Most of the people complaining about “the poor police” are white folks who have had the privilege of NOT being targeted by historically racist police policies and practices.Even on the non racist end, there’s mountains of evidence of police actively violating the constitutional rights of the citizens they are payed and sworn to serve.https://www.facilities.udel.edu/safety/4689/

    • Peter S. January 15, 2024 (10:14 am)

      Maybe.  And it probably depends on seniority, etc.  However, tech workers generally don’t face the same personal risks.  For the record,  no police apologist here.  I’ve had a few less than satisfying as well as several positive encounters.  But, I do appreciate the fact they do a job few of us would or could do. 

  • Jort January 14, 2024 (9:53 pm)

    Seattle Police are some of the highest paid police officers in the United States of America. 

  • Ryan January 15, 2024 (10:59 am)

    A rookie cop makes almost double what I make as a tenth year teach with a master’s degree. We pay our cops more than comparable departments (e.g. NYPD) by tens of thousands. Yes, it is a dangerous job. But it is significantly less dangerous than being a sanitation worker or a City Light lineman, and you don’t see them refusing to do their jobs. You also don’t see them refusing to comply with federal judges. The SPD earned their bad reputation with the citizens and the city council. I don’t see why they should get to hold us hostage until we say pretty please.

    • Agreed January 15, 2024 (4:01 pm)

      Totally agree. Cops aren’t even in the top 25 for most dangerous jobs. It’s a safer job than being a painter, an automotive mechanic, even a delivery driver. I hope in our lifetimes we see a shift in priorities, away from the punishment over all else mentality, to one of education first. An educated and equitable populace will always have less crime. 

    • Big Dave January 16, 2024 (7:00 am)

      Nobody believes a sanitation or city light job is more dangerous than being a policeman. 

      • Felix Grounds January 16, 2024 (10:33 am)

        Dave, you can literally look up the statistics, police work is behind many occupations in level of danger of bodily harm.

      • Ron Swanson January 16, 2024 (11:58 am)

        They should probably educate themselves then:

        Sanitation workers: 5th most deadly job in the US 

        Linemen: 10th most deadly 

        Police Officer: 22nd most deadly 

        Source BLS

• tom January 14, 2024 (8:49 pm)

  Definitely more worried about someone arming themselves in this situation than a cold person with a flattop who rang a doorbell on a lit porch and seemingly did nothing else before leaving. 4am is basically when papers are being delivered and an hour after bakeries start baking.

  • Ab January 14, 2024 (9:46 pm)

    4 am is not a normal time to ring someone’s doorbell

  • EJ January 14, 2024 (9:47 pm)

    Super cool you have ESP and could definitely tell this person was not a threat. Many other people, especially women living alone, don’t have the luxury of giving men showing up at our door at 4am the benefit of the doubt. God forbid people are prepared to defend themselves!

  • AB January 14, 2024 (10:18 pm)

    Who cares what time bakeries start baking. 4 am is not normal time to ring someone’s doorbell and would be frightening 

  • EG January 15, 2024 (12:05 am)

    Agreed.

  • Not Ed Troyer January 15, 2024 (7:39 am)

    Absolutely.

  • Ts January 15, 2024 (11:01 am)

    Tom, usually a male name, as a female with 2 daughters, one that uses a wheelchair can you understand how this would be more alarming to me and my family? If it took 2 hours for police to respond to a similar situation at my home and the male decided to enter how quickly do you think a wheelchair user could flee and from which exits? Would it be alarming for me to arm myself to protect my daughters or should we all just hide and pray? I have seen what a bullet can do to a 90 pound 16 year old and want guns out of criminals hands but I also need my family to be safe and 2 hours at 4:00 am is concerning to me

• sue January 14, 2024 (8:59 pm)

  I believe the officers from the southwest precinct can get pulled to other parts of the city if need be.

  • WSB January 14, 2024 (9:31 pm)

    Yes, they can, and vice versa – if you listen to radio communication, you’ll hear the term “cross-precinct dispatch.” There was one call recently in which SW officers were sent to the North Precinct to respond to a priority incident. As I wrote above, it’s hard to tell at a glance, or a listen, what exactly was happening. For one example, calls are logged briefly on Tweets (X’s) by Beat, but certain types of calls such as domestic violence and sexual assault will not appear there. Another question is how many officers were on duty at that time – TR

    • Al King January 15, 2024 (6:27 am)

      Sue. Many years ago there was a shooting at Seattle U. News coverage showed the response. I saw an SPD officer on tv that normally patrolled Alki. He had come, via the viaduct.

• Betty January 15, 2024 (1:41 am)

  Concerning that it took 2 hours. An incident where I needed police one came from the south district. Seattle protests must have pushed the police out when we need them the most. How we regret such disgraceful lawlessness against our Seattle officers now when they’re the only help we can get during emergencies. Thankful your family is okay. We do have firearms for safety, would definitely warn and result to last resort before shooting but we do have them for defense you never know these days anymore. Let’s be kind to our law enforcement who encounter the most dangerous situations, especially with soaring crime rates we need to invest in law enforcement policies.

• WSCurmudgeon January 15, 2024 (11:45 am)

  Consider the specific facts that the writer describes, the particular environment of Schmitz Park, and the very cold temperature of Sunday AM,  20F at 4AM.  

  The man rang the bell just before 4AM. He was “pressed up against” the front door.  The husband sees his brush haircut; he isn’t wearing a hat, at least not one that covers all of his hair.  About 10 minutes later, he was no longer visible from within the house, and one of the children, apparently from under their bed, saw a shadow move.  Two hours later, presumably, the police check the area and find neither the man, nor any evidence that he tried to enter the home.  Presumably later Sunday,   the writer, her husband, or the police ask the neighbors; no neighbor reports that they saw or heard anything that they connect to this incident.  

  One condition can explain the man’s odd behavior: he was stage 2 hypothermic.   He pressed up against the door because he could feel the heat radiating from it. He moved on from the house without trying seriously to enter it because he was so tired and confused that he could no longer act to achieve a purpose.Before arriving at the house,  he may have already engaged in “paradoxical undressing” since he seems not to have been wearing a hat.  

  If this surmise is correct,  the remains of the would-be intruder will be in the Schmitz Park area.  

  There is a behavior called “terminal burrowing,” or “hide and die,” which some victims of hypothermia exhibit before they lose consciousness.  If this occurred, the remains will be in dense brush, an outbuilding, perhaps even a very small shed or kennel.

  The Wikipedia article on Hypothermia explains the stages and the particular behaviors mentioned above.

  I hope the person who wrote the description of the incident keeps WS Blog informed about further developments.

  • Al King January 15, 2024 (2:23 pm)

    In a safe and sane city. that scenario would be valid. In the city we actually live in it would be foolish and dangerous to assume anything but bad intent by this person. 

  • Rhonda January 15, 2024 (2:38 pm)

    All the more reason for SPD or SFD to have responded right away instead of over 2 hours later.

    • Mike January 15, 2024 (7:27 pm)

      This sounds like a scenario for the social worker team.  No need for armed police response if it’s the story this person proposed.  I guess the new 911 team should have reanalyzed what was occuring.  STOP BLAMING COPS 

• Angel January 15, 2024 (9:39 pm)

  Do people recall how citizens in Seattle were trying to kill the cops during CHOP they tried to burn them down in their own Precinct! There are bad eggs in every profession I think  SPD are fabulous and please let’s respect them so they will stick around, the ones we have left!   Every time I see an officer I thank them for their service.  I have spoken to several officers that feel like the citizens hate them and are trying to harm them, Seattle’s reputation for how they treat their officers is well known has gotten out

  • North Delridge January 16, 2024 (9:38 am)

    This is so insanely untrue wtf? Literally nothing you said happened. Further, the cops went out of their way to antagonize the entire capitol hill neighborhood, whether or not you were protesting through physical and emotional trauma.  Teargassing the entire neighborhood, nearly killing a protestor shooting them point blank with a rubber bullet, etc. The police love people like you since you believe their lies wholesale and never question their obviously false narratives. 

    • Mike January 17, 2024 (6:49 am)

      Weird, it’s on video showing the mob cementing the door closed on the precinct and the setting it on fire so the police inside couldn’t leave.  Also on video is the child of an Eastside politician taking a bat to the back of an SPD officers head, splitting his helmet.  There’s also video of the mob throwing incendiary devices at officers.  Unrelated to SPD, there’s video and audio of the “security” shooting a child at CHOP/CHAZ (point blank gun shot to kill the kid after hurting the kid at distance with a AR platform didn’t kill him in the stolen Jeep Cherokee).  Then on video and audio is the attempt to cover it all up and flee.

  • Felix Grounds January 16, 2024 (10:59 am)

    Do people remember that SPD was under a federal consent decree for it’s deadly racist and unconstitutional tactics.

  • Scarlett January 16, 2024 (4:41 pm)

    CHOP was a real problem for businesses in the area and there were several unrelated tragic shootings in the vicinity, yes, but that precint was was never in any real danger.  I walked through CHOP on several ocassions and it had a refreshing upbeat hippy vibe, almost like a 60’s  music festival or commune – free food, a pop-up victory garden, public art, that sort of stuff.  It wasn’t some leftist zombie apocalypse as portrayed in the media.  

    • realist January 16, 2024 (5:55 pm)

      The CHOP was the deadliest place on earth per capita during its existence. Please don’t pretend it wasn’t a completely different place at 2am. Watch any of the YouTube videos that show the violence and the murders and then tell me what a peaceful loving place it was.This whole head in the sand existence some of you living is concerning. Just head over to 3rd Ave at night and tell me this city doesn’t have any issues.You pretend that a man ringing a doorbell at 4am is normal and that he just needed a hat and gloves. Feel free to share your info here and the rest of us will be sure to direct any late-night doorbell ringer to your home so you can let them in for a warm fire and some cookies.And yes, some police are bad, but no police is worse. We’ve seen what happens when people are  left to their own policing. Its not good, as bad actors will ALWAYS take advantage of those who think every thing is sunshine and unicorns.

      • K January 16, 2024 (6:39 pm)

        I had the same experience with CHOP as Scarlett, and yes, I was around late at night too.  Yes, there were shootings on one night.  That happens at Alki too, should we we label it “the deadliest place on earth per capita” now?  You guys need to get out and stop letting news reels do the thinking for you.  Remember when the protestors were protecting the east precinct from vandals after the police abandoned it?  Of course you don’t.  Remember when the brother of an east precinct cop tried to drive his car into the crowd of protesters?  Probably forgot that one too.  Remember how that WHOLE standoff started on Capitol Hill because SPD refused to let protestors march PAST their precinct?  I experienced response times like Reader did 20 years ago.  SPD had backwards priorities LONG before 2020, long before BLM, long before COVID created labor shortages in every sector of the market.  Sure, there may only be a few bad apples, but the supposed good ones stand behind them.  THAT’S reality, not just what you saw in a 20-second YouTube video.

      • Scarlett January 16, 2024 (7:35 pm)

        I already identified the problems with CHOP  but the the vast majority of people participating were not violent but actually rather surprisingly laid back.  How many people have been beat or shot after a football game?  I don’t think most fans go there with that intention.  And yes, unsuprisingly, more crime probably happens at night, at CHOP or elsewhere.  But we’re not going to police or jail our way out of the this really alarming downward trajectory of our society – and when I say society I mean as society as a whole.     

Sorry, comment time is over.