Shoplifter arrested

Around 6:47 p.m. on Sat., Oct. 21, officers arrived in the 100 block of N.W. 85th Street to investigate a shoplifting case. The suspect stole a bottle of alcohol, threatened to hit the security guard and then reached into his waistband, implicating he had a gun. When officers arrived, a security guard pointed out the suspect to them. The man was standing at a bus stop. The officer yelled out to see his hands. At first the man reached up. Then he brought his hands down to his side. Officers thought he seemed intoxicated. He did not have any weapons. The suspect refused to hand over his stolen merchandise—and was placed under arrest for misdemeanor theft and harassment. Officers then returned the unopened bottle of vodka to store staff. 

Confusion around assault

Around 10:15 p.m. on Fri., Oct. 20    , officers were patrolling the area near the intersection of 22nd Avenue N.W. and N.W. 57th Street, when a citizen flagged them down. At the same time, they received a dispatch of a victim of a robbery in the same area. The individual flagging down the officers was the victim of the incident. The man had an injury on his nose and smelled like alcohol. He told officers that he had been assaulted by two men in a courtyard. He said he had been lured into the bushes, when a man started swinging at him and then assaulted him with a bicycle pump. The suspects tried to take his backpack, but he was able to hold on to it. His wallet, however, was missing. He said that he had $100 in his wallet. Officers were able to locate the bicycle pump and submitted it into evidence. Seattle Fire Department responded to the scene to check on the man’s injury. Officers checked the area but were unable to locate anyone matching the description of the suspects. Then, the officers left. They received a call soon after from the victim saying that he found one of the suspects. The officers returned to the courtyard where the assault took place. They found a group of transients. The man accused of the crime said he had been trying to break up the fight and had a cut on his cheek. Since there was no evidence that the man was not the assaulter, the officers handcuffed him. Then a witness stepped up and testified that the man was indeed trying to break up a fight. Officers had conflicting statements—so they decided to remove the handcuffs and let the man go. 

Ex-employee breaks into business

Around 6 a.m. on Sat., Oct. 21, a police officer responded to an alarm that sounded at a home in the 5200 block of Ballard Avenue N.W. When he arrived, he saw the front door was secured and the inside of the business appeared not to be damaged. Before clearing the scene, an employee of the business approached and said he needed his phone and speaker from inside. The officer could tell the man was intoxicated, as he was stumbling and his speech was slurred. The officer asked if the employee had pulled on the front door causing the alarm. He stated yes. The officer advised the male to go home and try to retrieve his things in the morning. Later, another alarm sounded at the same location. The officer drove to the back of the business and discovered that a large amount of blue milk crates were stacked up on the exterior of the door. The doors, however, seemed secure. Then, the officer received a call that the cleaning person found an unknown male seated in the office on the computer. The man turned out to be the original individual who claimed to be an employee. The officer placed the man under arrest. The general manager said that the arrested male was an ex-employee, fired six months ago. The suspect said he had stacked the milk crates to gain access through a skylight. He caused significant damage to the inside of the office.