Disturbance
Officers received a report of an explosion at McGilvra Elementary School. Upon their arrival, the officers found an exploded pipe bomb in the middle of the cul-de-sac at the end of the 3700 block of E. Blaine St.
The officers also found numerous pieces of a shattered, red flower post scattered in all directions for about a block. One-half block east of the explosion site officers also found a broken piece of the pipe bomb end cap.
A witness told officers he was inside his home when he heard a loud explosion followed by the sound of several people running down the alley to the rear of his home. The witness looked to the alley and saw four teenage boys running north through the alley. One of the boys was carrying a long-board skateboard.
A second witness corroborated the first witness' account. The officers photographed the scene and collected pieces of the pipe bomb and flowerpot to hold for evidence.
Property damage
Saturday 8/9, 12:01 a.m.
A resident living in the 3300 block of E. Valley St. called 911 to report a tree had fallen across the road. On the scene, officers found the tree was completely blocking traffic. The officer was unable to contact the homeowner who cared for the tree, but he was told the homeowner had recently contracted an arborist to take the tree down.
Apparently a large part of the tree broke off the night before, but it fell into the yard, which is why, according to neighbors, the homeowner did not notify the city. When the tree did fall it came crashing down on a car, and the officer noted at least 80 percent of the car was covered by the tree.
Seattle Department of Transportation personnel arrived, blocked off the street and advised the homeowner he needed to call a tree service company to remove the trunk and branches. The SDOT crew said they could do it, but it would not be free.
Burglary
Monday 8/11, 7:53 a.m.
A maintenance employee arrived at an office building on East Madison Street to open up, and check, the building for his employer, which houses both office and retail space. As he made his rounds, the man discovered evidence of several burglaries within the building.
After completing a cursory survey of the building, the man called the police. An officer who was assisting on a burglary call in an adjoining building on East Madison Street volunteered to take the call and walked over.
The officer and maintenance man could not determine how the burglars entered the building, for all of the exterior doors and windows appeared to be secure. However, the officer did note that a few of the doors could be pried open without leaving a mark.
Once inside, the burglars kicked in the door to a suite that housed a pair of medical offices, which were both ransacked. Only one item of value was thought to be missing, an old laptop computer.
The burglars then moved to the second floor women's bathroom where they tried to enter a neighboring office space by ripping out ceiling tiles and insulation. Their efforts were stopped by the heavy wooden construction between the two rooms.
Instead, the burglars kicked down a storeroom door on the first floor, but all they found were knitting, sewing and fabric supplies. Nothing appeared to be missing, but the thieves did rip open a key box that housed keys for the utility space within the building, along with the elevator.
They also took a ladder from the storeroom to climb up to the second floor, where they tore into the ceiling tiles, insulation and dry wall again. However, the building's wood construction stopped them from crossing over into the adjoining office space, again. Damage to the dry wall was estimated to be more than $1,000.
Burglary
Monday 8/11, 1 p.m.
Officers responded to a report of an office building burglary on East Madison Street that happened sometime over the previous weekend.
It appeared as is the suspects pried open the main front door and then gained access to several businesses on the second floor. All of them had been ransacked. The woman who reported the break-in told officers it appeared as though some electronic equipment had been stolen from the businesses, but she wasn't sure of how much or precisely what was taken.
The complainant showed officers a small, white cloth bag at the base of a stairwell. Inside was a DVD player, a DVD player docking station with a power cord, a curling iron and a bottle of white wine. Nearby sat a fly fishing rod in a black nylon case. One of the officers also found an unlatched roof access door located above the stairwell. Fingerprint evidence was obtained from the fly rod. While the officers were surveying the damage, one of them was called away to the neighboring office complex (see the previous incident) to investigate a similar burglary.
Assault
Wednesday 8/13, 11:17 a.m.
A Metro driver working bus route No. 2 noticed a man who was either asleep or passed out sitting near the front of his coach. After the driver reached the end of his run near the turn around at Lake Washington and Madrona Drive, he woke the man up and told him the bus was at the end of the route.
"Why didn't you let me know?" the man asked in an agitated voice. "Can't you wake a brother up?"
The man then stood up and got "nose-to-nose" with the driver, swearing at him and showing his fist. The man then poked a finger in the driver's left eye, which caused some temporary pain and tearing.
"I'll $#%@ you up!" yelled the man while pushing the driver several times and striking him on the chest with an open hand.
The driver later told police he could smell beer on the man's breath and that the man demanded the driver take off his glasses, which he took as an implied threat for a further assault.
The driver responded to all of this by using "reasonable force" to remove the suspect from the bus. As he did this, the man threw his cell phone at the driver, but the throw went wide. The driver picked up the phone, but the man just walked away heading west on Madrona Drive.
A witness came out of his nearby house and heard the man tell the driver he would, "have some people waiting for him at the 23rd and Union bus stop."
The driver also told the investigating officer that the suspect said, "I know your route. I know I can find you." The suspect then made a pistol shape with his thumb and forefinger and pointed it at the driver.
Taking the threat seriously, the officer noted the bus driver appeared visibly shaken by the confrontation. His supervisor relieved him from driving duties for the day, and the officer placed the thrown cell phone into evidence.
Suspicious circumstances
Wednesday 8/13, 12:52 p.m.
An officer met a man at a construction site in the 1200 block of 39th Ave. E. concerning illegal dumping at the site. The complainant said someone had placed a load of trash in his dumpster after his crew left for the day. The officer noted it looked like the trash came from several different places due to the multiple names found among the printed refuse.
Assault
Thursday 8/14, 1:18 p.m.
The report of a man who had been shot brought officers to the 700 block of 26th Ave. S. They found the victim standing in a driveway with a gunshot wound to his head. Fire department personnel responded, treated the man on the scene and transported him to Harborview Medical Center.
A few minutes after the first 911 call reported the injured man, a second 911 call about the incident redirected officers to the 900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. Officers determined from witnesses that the man had been shot at the second scene.
Witnesses told the officers they saw the victim, a 20-year-old man, sitting in a parked car off the sidewalk in front of a home. As the man started to pull the car away from the curb, several gunshots rang out. The witnesses watched the man holding his neck as he drove away.
Gang Unit detectives took over the investigation. In searching the victim's car, they found two bullet fragments, one on the front passenger seat and the other under the front seat's center armrest.
Drugs
Thursday 8/14, 1:49 p.m.
Officers detained a 15-year-old boy at the intersection of 28th Avenue South and South King Street after they recognized him for involvement in an earlier incident. The officers detained the boy and were then asked by two Gang Unit detectives to transport him to the Seattle Juvenile Center for questioning.
Before they transported the boy they searched him and found six grams of crack cocaine (worth $600 on the street) stashed in a plastic bag in his pocket. The officers placed the drug into evidence and turned the boy over to the detectives.
Animal bite
Friday 8/15, 10:15 a.m.
A Seattle Parks Department employee was cleaning up foliage at 24th Avenue and East Howell Street when two large poodles, one black and the other white approached him, in an aggressive manner. Both were barking at him, baring their teeth.
The worker watched the dogs' master, who was sitting on a bench nearby, look over at the unfolding scene as her unleashed dogs approached him. Soon after the white poodle lunged at him, biting his upper-left calf, causing bleeding and swelling.
He immediately yelled at the dogs' master, who yelled back before heading toward her parked car. The worker told her to stay where she was and that he was calling the police, but the woman left the area with her dogs in the car.
The worker and the responding officers were able to track down where the woman lives through her license plate after documenting the man's injuries. Police and animal control officers arrived at her Lakeside Avenue home where they saw the black and white poodle in her car. The Animal Control officer told her she would be cited for several animal related violations and that the poodle that the man would be impounded.
The woman said she didn't see her dog attack the worker, but she did see him yelling and waving branches at her dogs. While she admitted her poodles were off leash, she said felt they would never hurt anyone and didn't have a history of biting. She added that the worker probably provoked her dog into biting.
Car prowl
Monday 8/18, 7:20 p.m.
A woman returned to her car in the Madrona Park parking lot to find her front, passenger side window had been broken out. She told the responding officer that she had only been away from her vehicle for around five minutes.
Missing were her brown leather bag that was sitting on the front seat. It contained about 25 CDs, her dancing shoes, wallet and some notes. She was about 150 meters south of the lot, but told officers she did not see or hear anyone.
She called to cancel her credit cards, and the company told her it had already been used to buy gas at the Richland Mini-Mart. The officer went to the location and found the woman's notes, dancing shoes and empty wallet in one of the station's trashcans.
Harassment
Monday 8/18, 8:34 p.m.
An officer spoke with a woman and her husband outside the Madrona Ale House after she had an altercation with a pedestrian. Apparently the woman, who was driving north on 34th Avenue East to meet her husband and daughter for dinner, stopped at East Union Street and pulled too far into the intersection.
An unknown man began yelling at her and hitting her car saying that she hit him. The woman rolled down her window and apologized, but the man continued to hit her car with his open hands.
At one point the man opened her door, and while he didn't say anything threatening, the woman was scared. She pulled through the intersection, parked a block away, and called her husband. A witness called 911 to report the incident, and the suspect left the area in a silver SUV.
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