I don’t do puddles
On May 17 a construction crew was doing work on the 6000 block of Beach Drive S.W. The work required closure of one lane and a flagger was on duty safely guiding traffic. As a woman in a yellow Chevy Camaro approached, the flagger waved her to the left of the cones blocking off her lane. The woman asked if she could stay more to the right to avoid a puddle, and the flagger said she needed to go ahead and ford the puddle. Stories diverged at that point as the woman told police the flagger started pounding on her car as she drove past. The flagger said as soon as he told her she needed to go through the puddle, the woman swerved towards him, causing him to brace against the hood and push off the Camaro’s side to avoid getting hit. The foreman on duty said he turned just in time to see his flagger “bounce off the hood of the car,” at which time the woman stepped out of the Camaro and yelled, “I didn’t want to go through the puddle!.” No one was arrested.

Nice try guys
Earlier this month a homeowner on the 3000 block of S.W. Manning St. heard a ruckus around 11 a.m. on a Saturday: A 20-ish-year-old male was trying to pry open his front door. The victim, upstairs at the time, called 911 to report the attempted burglary. While on the phone with dispatch he looked out his window just as the suspect looked up, noticed the homeowner, and ran off … to the neighbor’s house where the victim watched him “creeping” around in the back yard. Police arrived, noticed someone inside the neighbor’s home and asked him to come outside. The youth (not the same guy who was prying at the door) came outside and told police he was the only one home and no one had tried to break in. The youth was unable to provide any identification or a social security number and police decided to detain him and call his father. The kid gave police a wrong phone number for his dad, and they told him they wanted to check the house to make sure no one else was inside. The youth refused, saying he wanted to see a warrant. They went inside, as they didn’t believe the youth lived there, and found the burglary suspect hiding downstairs. Both suspects were arrested.

Missing beers and inconsistent tales
On May 12 a 52-year-old woman called police to her 35th Ave S.W. apartment to report a male and female in their twenties had broken down her door and kicked her in the ribs. Police arrived and the woman appeared clearly intoxicated with a “flushed face, bleary watery eyes, (and the) odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her person.” As medics inspected her for injuries (they were unable to find any), she said a friend brought a lot of beer over, and they started drinking on the breezeway. At some point she offered the neighbors a beer. As she spoke to one of them, she said two others snuck into her apartment and stole her beer. She told police “she didn’t mind – she wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it,” but changed her mind and knocked on the alleged thieves’ door to discuss the matter. No one answered, so she went home. A few hours later, she said, the neighbors kicked the door down and assaulted her. Her story began to change at a rapid pace and she was ultimately unsure who attacked her. Her door did show signs of being kicked down, but the neighbors, when questioned by police, said they had nothing to do with the door or missing beers. No arrests were made and the woman was cleared by medics.

Robberies by block: 3500 SW Avalon Way, 9400 16th Ave SW

Burglaries by block: 5600 26th Ave SW, 4400 Delridge Way SW, 4700 38th Ave SW, 6300 38th Ave SW

Car prowls by block: 6300 37th Ave SW, 2600 51st Ave SW, 2200 Alki Ave SW, 3000 44th Ave SW, 9200 47th Ave SW, 2800 SW Bataan St, 6300 34th Ave SW, 7900 15th Ave SW

Vehicle thefts by block: 6500 21st Ave SW, 3200 46th Ave SW, 9800 49th Ave SW, 2600 42nd Ave SW, 4600 SW Othello St, 900 SW Holden St, 4200 SW Dawson St