West Seattle Crime Watch: 3 reports

| Crime | West Seattle news

Three Crime Watch reports to share this afternoon – reports of an Alki assault, Gatewood burglary, and a Junction-area sighting that might or might not be related to a theft – read on:

First, from Stacey:

A friend of mine asked if I could write in for him because he’s unable to see anything right now (basically blind with no glasses) but desperately wants to get the word out. This morning (9/13) at about 2:30 am him and 2 of his friends from out of town decided to take a walk on Alki after there nightcap at the Celtic Swell (just 1-1/2 blocks from his home!).

They were on the sand side across from (Phoenecia) when they heard someone say, “What?” They didn’t think it was directed at them since they were having there own conversation. The guy across the street said, “Hey! I’m talking to you! What?” The female (out of town) friend asked, “What?” At that point the 3 young white males ran across the street and punched the male (out of town) friend in the face. Before my friend knew it, he was punched in the back of the head and thrown to the ground, puched in the face on the cement and kicked in the back.

By the time it was all said and done, they were pretty well beat up, glasses broken, shoes lost, etc… The guys took off and my friend called the police. He said it took almost 45 minutes for the police to get there! If anyone was a witness or has ANY information at all, please call the police! The description of the guys are 3, Caucasian Males, approx. 20ish, jeans, red t-shirt. That’s all the info my friend had to get. But they were hanging around the front of the (Phoenecia) at around 2:30 am. It shouldn’t matter but my friend and his 2 out of town guests are grown, professional people that have no interest in ever fighting or being inolved in any kind of altercation. My friend is actually my supervisor at work.

Next — Sharon reported a burglary on Wednesday:

… in the daytime between 9 and 5, my house was broken into. Burglars broke into back garage door and into the house. Took all my jewelry (diamond earrings, necklace, engagement ring, other fine jewelry), my yellow dell laptop, samsung flatscreen and samsung digital camera. Happened in my home which is on the 36th Ave block between Othello and Webster [map]. Neighbors noted a rental moving truck in the area. Police would not send someone out because was not a robbery.

They took the report by phone. And Chris sent this photo, followed by an explanation:

We just came back from camping and found this on our parking strip. We’re wondering
if someone has had a truck stolen recently with a canopy. I’m not sure what day this ended up here. It’s on 45th Ave SW and SW Dawson. [map]

kstineback September 13, 2009 (5:44 pm)

about the gatewood robbery…how is it that the police don’t consider this a break-in?

sacatosh September 13, 2009 (5:47 pm)

“Police would not send someone out because was not a robbery.”

Quite frankly this pisses me right off.
How DARE they not come out? A home burglary is a huge violation, and it should be taken seriously. In fact, without a proper report, half the insurance companies won’t pay out.

More importantly, how do we expect criminals to be deterred if the police don’t even think it’s worth showing up when a home is burglarized in broad daylight? No wonder breakins are so common – nobody seems to give a rat’s ass.

try again September 13, 2009 (6:13 pm)

Buglaries aren’t common because of police. They are commong because of CRIME. I am sure there is a lot more to the story. They will always take a report when this happens period.

Angry Person! September 13, 2009 (6:29 pm)

What is with police response? It really scares me, the operator doesn’t seem to take any report seriously!!! I am almost afraid to post this! They may take it out on me!!!

DM September 13, 2009 (6:35 pm)

Any further word on the Alki assault?

WSB September 13, 2009 (6:36 pm)

I asked Sharon a followup question about that. she said that she told dispatchers she didn’t feel safe going back into the house and could an officer come out. She says they said they’d send someone, but after four hours no one had come, and by then her husband was home, so she filed the report.
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I have no idea what was happening at that time, but I can say this sort of issue has come up at crime council meetings (and I should have mentioned, the next WS Crime Prevention Council meeting is Tuesday at 7 pm at the precinct, and it’s a chance to ask police leadership anything you are concerned about), and if they are responding to “life safety” issues, those are the priority. Listening to the scanner, when things are incredibly busy in the “life safety” area – you will hear a dispatcher say “This call’s been holding for (x minutes x hours), at x address.”
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Obviously, I have no idea what was happening on Wednesday when Sharon called. But I did want to mention (a) I had asked her a followup on that and (b) what has been the case in other incidents before … TR

lighthouse September 13, 2009 (6:46 pm)

Thanks for the details. That’s exactly the kind of clarification I was looking for.
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However, if I was Sharon (and her husband) I’d follow-up with the SPD about this. Police will usually tell you to NOT enter a building if you’re not sure the building is clear. So to tell her they’d send someone, then not do so, is unacceptable.

bb September 13, 2009 (9:01 pm)

could you repost the info on when and where the crime prevention meetings are on a main home page so maybe as many of the readers can show up, I am oping to attend and think its time to get people there who are mad, and willing to speak up. I too have called the police and not had them show up.

WSB September 13, 2009 (10:02 pm)

Actually, BB, that’s coming up here shortly, thanks for the reminder. This month’s guest is King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg and I imagine a lot of people would want to hear from him – regarding what happens to crime suspects AFTER they are arrested. We mentioned this when it was scheduled a couple months ago and it’s been in the events calendar but now that it’s two nights out, definitely time for a reminder – TR

brandon September 14, 2009 (9:14 am)

Has there been any updates on the shooting/murder next to E-Bay brewery?

WSB September 14, 2009 (9:27 am)

No.

Scuba02 September 14, 2009 (11:47 am)

I’m quite concerned about the response times involving the SPD.

Concerned September 14, 2009 (3:09 pm)

In regards to Crime Prevention Council on 9/15, I would highly recommend those attendee ask the King County Prosecutor and the SW Precient what happened
to the Assailant wielding a loaded gun on the 8/28 Admiral Incident where the victim was struck from behind and the gun fired, he was released on Bond by the King County Jail, with no charge. This was due to the fact that the investigating officer did not respond in time to file a charge by the prosecuting attorney’s office. Not only is the system slow in non-emergency response times, but in any follow-up after a potential life taking crime takes place. These criminals are walking amonst us with no fear of authority or of any repersussion, west seattle is an open invitation and the authority needs to be accountable.

WSB September 14, 2009 (3:34 pm)

“Concerned,” the prosecuting attorney’s office did indeed charge the suspect in this case, Jedidiah Doyle, with second-degree assault. Bail was set at $10,000 and he got out of jail on 8/31, three days after the incident. I have just downloaded the charging document; he was charged in King County Superior Court, with paperwork dated 9/2/09. I will check later for any information on the status of the case, court appearances, etc., and will write a story when I have that information – TR

Concerned September 14, 2009 (4:22 pm)

He was bonded out without a charge on 8/31, the charge was filed later,after the report was submitted by the investigator and then the bond was increased. I was told specificaly this was due to the lack of a report filed with the Prosecutors office and the Investigator, who stated himself that he was just too busy to complete the paperwork. The Victim was told incorrectly on 9/3/2009 that the assailant was still incacerrated!Good Looking out Seattle PD

lighthouse September 14, 2009 (4:23 pm)

Is there something weird going on with the comment system?
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I posted a comment on this item on 13 September ~5:10PM. It was the first comment posted about this item. That comment showed up for a while (although for an hour+ both the main page and this page showed “no comments” despite my comment being there).
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Now my original comment is gone. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t offensive or off-topic since I just quoted a line from Sharon’s email and asked for more details about why it wasn’t considered a robbery.

WSB September 14, 2009 (4:35 pm)

Sometimes comments get caught in the spam filter, which is aggressive but on the other hand has saved us from more than a million spam comments (really vile stuff usually, but it does also go on a tear and some days catches several people for no discernible reason). Not sure in this case, there’s nothing in the spam filter right now – I installed the new comment “time to go back and edit” feature over the weekend, hope that didn’t eat it. But some comments are “held for moderation” by the regular system for various reasons including more than one link, IP address not having had a comment approved before, profanity and other trigger words … Not by any means a perfect system, but the best one available currently – sorry! – TR

lighthouse September 14, 2009 (4:48 pm)

I guess I didn’t explain that well enough…
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My comment was there for a while — from yesterday around 5:10PM to some time earlier today. But now the comment is gone. So I doubt it’s the spam filter or moderation system, unless those are retroactively grabbing comments that have already been posted.
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I’m not actually that concerned about my specific comment disappearing, since you answered the question I asked in my comment. But if the system is randomly deleting comments, that’s something that should probably get tracked down.

mayjune September 14, 2009 (7:03 pm)

To answer some of the above questions — there is a legal difference between burglary and robbery. In very general terms, “burglary” has to do with the unlawful entry of a building with the intent to commit a crime (often: theft), while “robbery” is a crime against a person (unlawfully taking property from the person by use of force, etc.).

See RCW 9A.52 and 9A.56 for more specifics.

wssince1966 September 14, 2009 (7:46 pm)

The West Seattle cops have caught numerous burglars and other thieves on a consistent basis for quite some time. Based on the mis-informed comment that the Admiral shooter was not charged due to cops being too slow to file the case, I suspect that there was more to the story on the non-response/visit by officers in the initially commented burglary.
The police in West Seattle work very hard to address crime both proactively, and in addressing incidents as they occurr. The response times are much better than neighboring areas, and you commonly see police on patrol on the streets at all hours.
Try some encouragement for the officers for a job well done in a nearly impossible political and social climate. It is not their fault that criminals are hitting homes and victims at a break neck pace these days. It is the criminals, their parents, drug dealers, and an overloaded judicial system’s fault.

sacatosh September 15, 2009 (8:08 am)

The cops we have do a decent job. However there’s HUGE room for improvement.

When a person calls 911 after a burglary and is told “do not enter your home, wait for the police” but the call isn’t dispatched to the police for more than 3 hours, despite 3 repeat calls to 911, and the disabled resident is waiting outside in 17 degree weather on the coldest day of the year, there is a HUGE problem.

Whether the problem is with the 911 dispatcher(s) or the police, or simply not having enough resources to handle what’s out there, there’s STILL a problem.

This isn’t an arbitrary example. It happened to me.

Dan September 23, 2009 (12:24 am)

Having lived in 13 different cities and overseas, I would say that the Seattle Police Department is the most disrespectful, inefficient, disinterested, and frankly, corrupt police department I’ve ever experienced.

I’m about to do some video work. I can go out any night of the week and document at least one SPD officer violating SPD policy and any acceptable standards of behavior. It wouldn’t be too hard to document some committing outright felonies.

If one were to investigate the number of emergency calls, where officers actually were, and where they were spending their time; we would all be astonished.

The SPD refusing to take reports on serious crime is epidemic. And this is the low fruit. To not document and database easily acquirable information is ridiculous. Read the Seattle Weekly’s report on this very subject. It includes actual accounts of SPD refusing to take reports of armed robberies in Pioneer Square that were reported within minutes of the crime.

Dan September 23, 2009 (12:41 am)

BTW, I would strongly recommend to anyone in Seattle that if your are, or about to be, the victim of a crime, assume you will have no help from the police and act accordingly. That may very well be the case. At least in my 14 years experience in Seattle and that of every person I’ve ever talked to about the subject. And that’s a lot of people.

In the mean time, we should seriously consider doing some civilian documentation work. Then take those reports/videos to the Seattle office of the FBI, since we don’t have “District Attorneys” in Washington. Only “Prosecuting Attorneys” which have no jurisdiction over the police.

Somebody has to hold these people responsible. As it is now they behave like a pack of dogs. Honestly

Sorry, comment time is over.