WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Sex offender released, plus 3 police reports, 2 reader reports

| Crime | West Seattle news

Six West Seattle Crime Watch items ahead:

SEX OFFENDER RELEASED: Thanks to the reader who let us know that convicted sex offender Duane Atwood, 40, was released from prison this past week. We last covered his case in 2015, when he went to prison after pleading guilty in an indecent-exposure incident on Beach Drive and for failing to register as a sex offender after moving back to the area, as a 2000 “burglary with sexual motivation” case required him to do. According to the King County sex-offender registry website – which has published his photo (shown at right) and other information – Atwood reported to authorities that he is living in Tukwila.

FROM THE POLICE-REPORT FILES

SPD posts a small percentage of report narratives, with several days’ delay, so we check the files periodically for local cases; these three from last weekend are the newest ones available:

HIT-AND-RUN: The afternoon of Sunday, September 3rd, police were called to the 10600 block of Marine View Drive for what was reported to be a hit-and-run injuring a pedestrian. The “pedestrian” turned out to be a resident who said it started when he noticed someone had parked a white Lexus SUV blocking his driveway while visiting a yard sale next door. The man’s wife went over to try to find the driver. A “verbal altercation” with “harsh/abusive language” ensued, as well as actions including horn-honking and mutual video recording. The yard-sale visitor, according to the report narrative, eventually “entered her vehicle and backed up abruptly,” hitting the man, knocking him down, then reportedly getting out and “laugh(ing) at him” before getting back in her vehicle and driving away. Multiple people at the scene provided police with the license plate number, which led them to a woman in her mid-50s living elsewhere in West Seattle. The victim also had a photo of the driver. When found at her home, the police report says, she acknowledged backing up, but thought the man was “faking” having been hit/hurt. She was arrested and booked into jail. The victim was checked out by Seattle Fire.

2 WEEKS, 2 BREAK-INS: In the 7700 block of 18th SW on Labor Day, a resident reported that his detached garage had been broken into overnight – just a week after his house had been burglarized. The garage was ransacked, with several power tools missing. Police found fingerprint evidence from the top of a trash can that the resident said had been moved during the burglary.

ROBBERY AFTER COLLISION: Last Saturday night (September 2nd) near Delridge and Brandon, a driver and bicyclist collided. Police then got multiple reports of a fight. Their report says the driver pulled over after hitting the bicyclist, who rode across Delridge, eastbound, in front of the driver, who was headed southbound. The driver pulled over, and two men ran over, with one punching through his car window, before they pulled him out of the car and started beating him up. They also went through his pockets before a woman ran up and got the to stop. The victim told police that he was missing his cell phone and a pack of cigarettes. Police found their suspect nearby – smoking the same brand of cigarette, claiming he had found the pack on the ground, and in possession of a phone matching the description of the one that was stolen. He was arrested for investigation of robbery and booked into jail.

TWO READER REPORTS

From the inbox:

CAR EMBLEMS STOLEN: From Alex:

I parked my car at Seacrest Park on Friday to take the water taxi and had the Volkswagen emblems stolen off my wheels while I was away. It would have happened between 6:45 AM to 7:00 PM. Not an expensive fix but still very annoying. I am curious if this has happened to anyone else.

It’s been reported to police.

CAR PROWL ATTEMPT: Brian shared this video and the report:

Last (Monday) night at 11:56 pm, a person attempted a car prowl on 40th Ave SW between Hinds and Manning. Fortunately, the doors were locked and nothing was taken. It was interesting to note what he was wearing: shorts, white baseball cap, and jacket with two reflective white logos on the back near each shoulder. I was surprised the thief was working this early in the evening. He worked quickly and barely triggered the motion activation on the cameras. The attached video was captured with an ARLO wireless security camera. In the future, I plan to connect the ARLO system to an App called IFTTT which can then be programmed to trigger a phone call and alert a sleeping user. A reminder to keep your doors locked!

Andre September 10, 2017 (8:21 am)

I also called police on the prowlers above, yes there were 2 people. I was sitting on my porch on 41st and saw them both walking down the street looking in every car and trying car doors, they also went into driveways to try car doors. They were both very clean cut looking and carrying bags. I was surprised, they were not trying to hide at all and unconcerned about being seen in the middle of the street. The one I got a good look at was a white male in his mid to late 20’s When they reached the end of the block they got into their own car, a white older model Ford SUV. I was on the phone with police while they were working their way down the block and tried to direct the police as to what direction they were going when they left. I didn’t see a patrol car until about 10 min later, they were long gone by then.

WSB September 10, 2017 (8:33 am)

Thank you.

colleen September 10, 2017 (12:09 pm)

How does one discover the name of the woman who was arrested in the hit and run case?

WSB September 10, 2017 (1:59 pm)

Names of suspects and victims are redacted on SPD reports when they are released – not just when they are publicly posted, which is how we found the info, but also when released to media. However, if a citation has been issued – which means, the defendant is charged with a misdemeanor – their name is available in the Municipal Court system. (Updated) The docket has conflicting information about this case’s status, which I will have to verify with the City Attorney’s Office tomorrow. Meantime, the Delridge robbery case would be in Superior Court as a felony, not Municipal Court, and unfortunately they don’t have cross-reference via police report #, so I’m going to have to check on that one with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office tomorrow. – TR
- colleen September 10, 2017 (2:45 pm)
  
  Thanks so much for explaining all that.

wb September 10, 2017 (3:22 pm)

Must have been a heck of a yard sale.

steve September 10, 2017 (8:14 pm)

MY VW emblem was always getting stolen, 3 times I think. I finally got rid of the car and got a Toyoter. Problem solved.

ACG September 10, 2017 (10:00 pm)

Interesting. Why is it that folks steal the VW emblems/ornaments? Does the logo represent something else that makes people want to steal it?
- Mike September 12, 2017 (7:00 am)
  
  Unless it’s the old big huge VW bus one, it’s just that people like the logo. It’s iconic, been around longer than pretty much any other. Mercedes logos are stolen too. This isn’t a new thing, been going on longer than I’ve been alive.

Sorry, comment time is over.