Here's a short, cheery report for the holiday.

A man pushing his daughter in a stroller was robbed in Greenwood around N 85th and Palatine, according to the police report. He had just taken money out of an ATM around 2:40 p.m. when a man came up behind him and his daughter and said, "Give me all your money and I won't hurt you."

The victim gave the man $540, and the suspect fled. Neither the man now his daughter were harmed. However, the robber's honor and karma were severely damaged.

From SPD:

On 9/6/10, at approximately 8:58 a.m., a man called 911 to report that his wife was walking on the beach when she came across a dead body.  The woman was walking along a remote beach area approximately 1 mile north of Carkeek Park, near the train tracks.

The body is that of a male in his 40′s. Officers and Burlington Northern Staff are on scene. At this point this is a death investigation. If more information is provided, I will update this posting.

For at least the second time in a month, a teen's birthday has ended in gunfire.

Around 1:00 am on Sunday, Police received reports of gunfire at 24th and Cherry near the Garfield Community Center.

According to Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Renee Witt, witnesses at the scene told officers a fight at a Quinceanera—a Latin American celebration of a girl's 15th birthday—inside the community center spilled out into the street.

One of men involved in the fight got a gun and fired four shots, apparently hitting another man in the leg.

The suspect, and several other men, fled the scene, and police stopped and detained five people. It's not clear whether anyone was arrested.

Police officers and gang detectives searched the scene of the shooting and found at least one shell casing.

However, officers were not immediately able to locate a victim.

Last month, police sources say a dispute between rival gang members led to a fatal shooting outside of another quinceanera held at a city-owned facility... (more)

Details are still scarce at this late hour but it appears police are investigating a shooting which took place shortly before 1:00am near Garfield High School.

Police are looking for a hispanic male got into a blue Honda Civic—occupied by three other people—that fled westbound on Cherry St.

The victim apparently left the scene in a black truck.

From the Blotter:

On 9/4/10, at approximately 2:47 a.m., officers responded to the 9100 block of MLK Wy S to a reported shooting at a motorcycle club-house.  The 2 victims were working as doormen to pat-down persons who weren’t Club members before they came inside.  A male showed up with several females and wanted to get in, but wouldn’t let the doormen touch his clothing.

This lead to a verbal confrontation and shots being fired from the suspect at the doormen.  Seattle Fire responded and treated both victims on the scene. They were later transported to Harborview Medical Center with non life threatening injuries. Both victims had never seen the suspect before and gave only vague physical descriptions of the shooter. One other Club member was outside and he gave a video statement to Officers.

The Gang Unit responded and processed the scene. 2 guns were recovered from Club members at the scene and

A man was shot in the leg in Belltown around 10:45 this evening.

Police were called to a parking lot near 3rd and Bell around 10:45pm, where they found a white male in his 30s with a gunshot wound to his ankle.

More info as we get it.

It's gonna be a loooooooooong night.

At least one man person shot by police in an officer-involved shooting in West Seattle this evening.

Police were responding to a shots-fired call in the 6100 block of Admiral Way just before 9:00pm.

We're told an officer fired on someone, and that person has been taken to Harborview.

We'll update with more info as we get it.

Update: Police initially got a report of a possibly suicidal man, went to a home, and found a man with a rifle.

Police say the 59-year-old man pointed an AK-47-style gun at officers before officers opened fire.

The man's current condition is unknown.

PI.com:

A Seattle police officer has been convicted of driving under the influence in Grays Harbor County.

Prosecutors say Zsolt Dornay handed his police identification with his driver's license when he was stopped and later asked a State Patrol trooper, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Zsolt Dornay was arrested last year in Grays Harbor County and convicted Thursday.

Whether Dornay was implying a request for leniency when he handed his police identification with his license is subject to interpretation, Grays Harbor Deputy Prosecutor Gordon Wright said.

The minimum sentence Dornay could receive is one day in jail or 15 days of electronic home monitoring, Wright said. He also has to pay an $866 fine, attend a victim-impact panel, get an alcohol evaluation and possibly pay restitution for trooper's time, according to prosecutors.

Seattle police say a woman was slashed in the face during an altercation at a Belltown shelter earlier this week.

Shortly before 3:30 on August 31st, police were called to a shelter at 3rd and Virginia after receiving a report that a woman had been stabbed.

Police arrived and found a large group of women standing outside the shelter yelling that another woman inside was armed with a knife.

Officers entered the building and found and "extensive amount" of blood in several rooms, and also located the suspect, who they arrested and took to the West Precinct.

A witness told police she was in the women's bathroom when she saw the suspect approach the victim from behind.

The suspect put her arm around the victim's neck, and "made a slashing/stabbing motion at the right side" of the victim's face.

The victim sustained a 6-inch wound on her face and was taken to Harborview for her injuries.

It looks like this (minimalism):

   Author: 7592 - CLAXTON, JUSTIN C.
   Subject: NARRATIVE
Related date/time: Aug-30-2010 1800
On the above time, date and location Witness / Birk was on routine patrol
and contacted Suspect / Doe for a weapon-open knife violation.  Suspect /
Doe refused to drop the knife.    
 
Suspect /Doe was shot and was
declared dead at the scene by SFD Medic One.  The scene was then turned
over to Homicide Detectives.
I hereby declare (certify) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the
State of Washington that this report is true and correct to the best of
my knowledge and belief (RCW 9A.72.085)

The first thing I noticed about this report (other than the complete lack of information): It appears that it was written by an officer with just as little (or possibly even less) experience than Officer Ian Birk, who fatally shot John Williams in downtown Seattle earlier this week.

Police say Birk has been with the department for two years. Officer Claxton, who wrote the report for the shooting,... (more)

Several men were taken to the hospital after a big brawl on Queen Anne earlier this week.

Around 2am on Augst 31, officers responded to a restaurant located on 5th and Queen Anne Ave north after receiving a report of 12-20 people brawling in the business's parking lot.

Police detained two men and the scene, and found a third man laying unconscious on the ground.

Witnesses told police the melee began inside the restaurant after several men got into a "verbal altercation," according to a police report.

Several of the men involved in the conflict left the restaurant, and another group of men followed them.

When the group reached the parking lot, one of the suspects punched the victim, bloodying his nose.

"At this point a third group from the restaurant observed the disturbance and intervened," the police report says.

The group of suspects then started yelling at the third group, and apparently attacked them as well.

During the incident, one of the men in the trouble-causing group fell down and hit his... (more)

This isn't Seattle crime exactly, but the LA Times has a great article on "predictive policing," which could very well make its way to Seattle some day.

So just read it and don't give me any lip, alright. It's Friday.

Besides, the story has the best lede that I've read all week:

The future of crime fighting begins with a story about strawberry Pop-Tarts, bad weather and Wal-Mart.

With a hurricane bearing down on the Florida coast several years ago, the retail giant sent supply trucks into the storm to stock shelves with the frosted pink pastries. The decision to do so had not been made on a whim or a hunch, but by a powerful computer that crunched reams of sales data and found an unusual but undeniable fact: When Mother Nature gets angry, people want to eat a lot more strawberry Pop-Tarts.

Los Angeles police are using the anecdote to explain a similar, but far more complicated, idea that they and researchers say could revolutionize law enforcement.

[...]

"The naysayers want you to believe that humans...

An apparently racist driver assaulted a biker in the U District after the two got into an argument. He then spit on him and called him a racial slur, according to the police report.

Two bikers were headed south around noon August 30 on the sidewalk along the west side of 11th (which is one-way headed north). A driver finished using the drive-through at Roosevelt and 45th (likely the WSECU ATM) and drove across the parking lot to make a left onto 11th, heading north.

The victim told police the driver was driving so fast he thought he was going to be hit, so he yelled at the driver to slow down. Both the bikers and the car came to complete stops, and the suspect and victim started yelling at each other. After a little yelling, the victim continued riding and passed in front of the suspect's vehicle. The suspect then allegedly ran into the victim, knocking him to the ground. He then "drove around [the victim] spitting on him and calling him a 'nigger,'" according to the report. The report does not note the victim'... (more)

SPD just sent out an update on this morning's big police response in the Central District:

On September 2, shortly before 8:30 AM, East Precinct officers responded to a report of shots fired from an apartment balcony in the 2000 Block of East Yesler Way.  Officers nearby heard the multiple shots.  911 received numerous calls on the shots fired. 

The initial report stated that a black male wearing a dark colored sweatshirt came out of the apartment onto a small balcony and fired a handgun numerous times before returning back inside the apartment. 

Witnesses reported seeing the man do this twice.  Officers arrived quickly and surrounded the apartment.  There were also reports of the suspect possibly leaving the building and walking down the street and heading to nearby Pratt Park, so officers had to check those areas as well.  Officers were able to confirm that the suspect was still inside the apartment. 

SWAT officers responded to the scene and made contact...

SPD Blotter:

Robbery Detectives developed information during the course of the investigation that led them to the identity of one of the suspects involved in last week’s home invasion robbery in Highland Park. On September 1,  detectives with the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force located and arrested a 37 year old suspect at 260th and Pacific Highway South in Des Moines.  Robbery Detectives were following up on additional leads at a motel in Federal Way when another suspect wanted in this crime was spotted.  He fled when he saw detectives and multiple units responded to the area in an attempt to locate him. The suspect was able to elude capture.   At approximately 6:20 PM that 45 year old suspect was located and arrested by Federal Way Police and turned over to the Robbery Detectives.  Both suspects were interviewed  by detectives and later booked into the King County Jail on Investigation of Robbery.  This remains an on going investigation...

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg says he will seek the death penalty for Christopher Monfort, who allegedly waged a one-man war against Seattle police last year.

Monfort is accused of firebombing several SPD patrol cars at a city repair facility in the International District on October 22nd, nine days before he allegedly ambushed and fatally shot Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton—also wounding Officer Britt Sweeney—as they sat in their patrol car in the Central District last Halloween.

Here's the statement from the prosecutor's office:

This morning, I filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty in the case of State v. Christopher Monfort, who is charged with aggravated first degree murder for the slaying of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton.

Monfort is also charged with the attempted first degree murder of Seattle Police Officer Britt Sweeney, Officer Brenton's partner, the attempted first degree murder of Seattle Police Sergeant Gary Nelson, arising from Montfort's conduct...

From the Post Globe:

To effectively fight the prostitution of children, it helps to look at the chronic problem in terms of supply and demand.

“You will never bring down this business on the victim’s side. The driver is on the clients’ side,” said Kaffie McCullough, campaign director of the Atlanta non-profit organization A Future. Not a Past, dedicated to stopping the prostitution of children.

McCullough was one of about 80 service providers from non-profit, government and law enforcement agencies who gathered at Seattle City Hall Tuesday to focus on the problem. Few cities have a coordinated effort to help prostituted youth, and Seattle is now getting serious about tackling the problem.

The business is much bigger than many people think. McCullough shared the results of research in Georgia on the shadowy problem: 7,200 men a month in Georgia purchase sex with a female under 18 years old, and more than 400 girls are exploited each month. By 2013, that number could...

Seattle police are are looking for an armed man who fired off several shots outside of his Central District apartment this morning.

Police received a call about a man firing shots from a balcony of an apartment across from Pratt Park on 20th and Yesler at about 8:30am.

Officers have surrounded the building, and are now looking for the man. It's not yet clear whether the man is still inside the building.

Update: police only have a vague description of the suspect: a black male wearing a black sweatshirt.

Update @ 9:29- Seattle police are working with a crack negotiator—the man's mother—who is on the phone with the man, trying to coax him out of his apartment.

Update @ 9:35- Police believe there may be 3 or 4 other people inside the apartment with the man.

Update @ 9:36- Police have one person in custody and are trying to get three more people out of the apartment.

Update @ 9:42- Sounds like everyone is safely out of the unit.

Update @ 10:09- 20th back open to pedestrian traffic.

More info... (more)

An employee at a Capitol Hill shop told police he believes he was attacked by a shoplifting suspect earlier this week because he is gay, a police report says.

Around 2:00pm on August 29th, employees at a store on Broadway and Harrison spotted five black females, all around 20 years old, carrying bags and trying to leave the store with merchandise they hadn't paid for.

When one of the women set off a security alarm, an employee approached the women and asked them to stay in the store.

The women refused and left the business.

The employee followed the suspects down E Harrison Street, and called 911.

When the employee caught up to the suspects at 400 Harvard and told them he had called police, one of the women walked up to the employee, said "get away from me you stupid faggot," and punched the man on his shoulder.

The suspects then walked off and scattered, and the employee returned to the store.

The man told police the suspects "stole a large amount of merchandise using the bags to conceal the merchandise"... (more)

As we reported yesterday, there are some flaws in The Stranger's recent report on why pot arrest levels are "worse than ever" in Seattle.

Today, just as we said they would, Mayor Mike McGinn's staff issued a lengthy FAQ, correcting the record on the Stranger's pot hit piece.

We've already pointed out some of the inaccuracies we discovered in The Stranger's reporting, but here's another big one, by News Editor Dominic Holden:

This year, 147 people have been referred to prosecutors with pot as the only charge, according to records from the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and the city attorney's office. That is a fivefold increase in the number of pot-only cases (last year, only 28 of the 120 arrests were referred for prosecution with pot as the only charge). In other words, pot-only arrests rose from 23 percent to 85 percent.

This is a drastic shift toward busting people solely for pot.

Uh, not so much, says the mayor's office:

In the first four months of last year about 6,500 incident reports were filed with the City Attorney’s Office. In only six of those incidents was marijuana the reason for the contact. Only .09% of incident reports during this time period cite marijuana as the primary reason for a contact.

Although it may appear that marijuana was the “sole charge” in a lot of incident reports, it often looks that way because the reason for the stop was either a traffic citation (which isn’t a criminal charge), or to execute a warrant.

Most police contacts involving marijuana occur because of an unrelated offense. For example, of the incident reports filed between January 1st and April 30th of this year (the time period covered by the Stranger’s public disclosure request), there were only eighty that cited possession of marijuana.

Only 21 of those 80 incidents were not related to 911 calls, traffic stops, or on-street drug dealing, says the mayor's office. And of those 21:

[A]ll but six were incidents in which the officer stopped the suspect for a reason other than marijuana, and discovered marijuana incident to the arrest.

Those six remaining incidents all involved individuals openly smoking marijuana in front of a police officer.

Now that Mayor McGinn's office has corrected the record on The Stranger's piece, let's see if The Stranger does the same.

The full release can be found after the jump.

An FAQ on marijuana enforcement in Seattle

There have been a few questions recently regarding marijuana enforcement in our city.  We’ve put together a FAQ to help answer these questions.

1. Is enforcing simple possession of marijuana really SPD’s lowest priority?

Yes. In the first four months of last year about 6,500 incident reports were filed with the City Attorney’s Office. In only six of those incidents was marijuana the reason for the contact. Only .09% of incident reports during this time period cite marijuana as the primary reason for a contact.

2. Do police officers ever stop someone solely because of marijuana?

Yes, but very rarely. Although it may appear that marijuana was the “sole charge” in a lot of incident reports, it often looks that way because the reason for the stop was either a traffic citation (which isn’t a criminal charge), or to execute a warrant. If someone is arrested because of an outstanding warrant, the offense for which the warrant was issued isn’t a new violation, so review of the City Attorney’s records would cause one to conclude (incorrectly) that marijuana was the only criminal violation at issue.

3. Why do officers have to report that they took my weed? Can’t they just flush it and let me go on with my day?

Police officers are expected to document every incident accurately and by the book. When an officer comes across someone with marijuana, whether during a traffic stop or execution of a felony warrant, he or she is obligated to seize it. There have been a number of incidents across the country in which an individual alleges that an officer stole his/her narcotics. Because cities have been sued and officers relieved of their duties because of these allegations, it is SPD policy that every drug seizure be properly documented in an incident report.

4. Why can’t an officer just record that he seized marijuana? Does he really have to recommend prosecution?

Police officers don’t decide or recommend whether or not to prosecute. An incident report is simply a narrative description of what happened. Each report is categorized by the “primary charge”, meaning the most serious offense outlined in the report. An Assistant City Attorney will look at every report the police send over and decide whether or not to charge. The decision to charge rests solely with the City Attorney, not SPD.

5. Why does the officer have to send a report to the prosecutor at all?

We have recently changed the way we send incident reports to the City Attorney’s Office. Formerly, incident reports were paper reports that were walked over to the City Attorney’s Office. Now, these reports are electronic and go from the patrol officer to a detective sergeant to be reviewed for accuracy, and then directly to the City Attorney’s Office. The only time a report wouldn’t go to the City Attorney or King County Prosecutor is if there’s no evidence or no suspect. The law gives our elected prosecutors the discretion to choose what to charge, but it doesn’t give the same discretion to the police.

The fact that reports are transmitted automatically may account for the increase in incident reports involving marijuana, because in the past some volume of low-priority incident reports were probably never sent to the City Attorney’s Office in the first place.

6. You said the police rarely stop people just for marijuana, and yet the City Attorney is declining all these marijuana charges. Where are these charges coming from?

Most police contacts involving marijuana occur because of an unrelated offense. For example, of the incident reports filed between January 1st and April 30th of this year (the time period covered by the Stranger’s public disclosure request), there were only eighty that cited possession of marijuana. Of these:

• 17 (21.3%) involved 911 calls for service. 7 were for narcotics complaints, meaning someone called 911 about drug-related activity and that drug turned out to be marijuana. 10 of those were dispatched calls for non-narcotics complaints like fighting, trespassing, or someone behaving erratically and blocking traffic and marijuana was discovered subsequent to the arrest. While enforcing marijuana laws is our lowest priority, responding to our community is our highest priority. 14 (17.5%) involved the serving of warrants. That is, officers encountered someone with an outstanding warrant, searched that individual, and discovered marijuana.

• 20 (25%) involved a traffic stop. Even under the most liberal legalization proposals, driving under the influence of marijuana would remain illegal, so when an officer stops a vehicle and smells pot, a search is clearly justified.
• 12 (15%) involved a High Drug Enforcement Area. These are areas of our city which see a high volume of drug trafficking, and have been targeted for heavy drug enforcement. When a cop sees a hand-to-hand sale, it’s not always obvious what drug was sold until they make the stop. Additionally, street-level dealers of heroin or cocaine often deal marijuana as well. Thus, marijuana shows up in the incident report.

• If you remove those four factors, you are left with 21 of the 80 incidents. Of the 21, all but six were incidents in which the officer stopped the suspect for a reason other than marijuana, and discovered marijuana incident to the arrest. Those six remaining incidents all involved individuals openly smoking marijuana in front of a police officer.

7. I keep hearing that marijuana is basically legal in Seattle. How serious an offense is it, really?

According to the City Attorney:

Marijuana possession remains illegal everywhere in Washington, including Seattle. Enforcement of “personal use” possession is the lowest priority for both the Seattle City Attorney’s Office and the Seattle Police Department. I don’t prosecute simple marijuana possession cases, but marijuana possession is still a crime, and people risk arrest and search incident to arrest for possession, especially people who choose to flaunt marijuana in the presence of law enforcement.

As for the “serious offense” question, under Washington law, possession of any amount of marijuana with intent to manufacture or deliver the marijuana is a felony, regardless of the amount of marijuana. Possession of more than 40 grams of marijuana is also a felony, regardless of intent. Possession of 40 or fewer grams of marijuana without intent to manufacture or deliver the marijuana is a misdemeanor. The King County Prosecuting Attorney is responsible for prosecuting felony offenses, so it is up to the county whether and how to charge felony marijuana offenses.

The King County Prosecutor's office has declined to file charges against SPD Detective Shandy Cobane for his involvement in a racially charged incident near a Lake Union nightclub earlier this year.

"After reviewing a thorough investigation by the Seattle Police Department, we have determined that Detective Shandy Cobane did not commit the crime of felony malicious harassment, the state's "Hate Crime" law, during an incident that took place in April of this year," the prosecutor's office said in a prepared statement.

"Prosecutors have found that he did not intentionally target and then threaten or assault a person because of their race or national origin as required under the State's hate crime statute."

Gang detectives were called to the China Harbor nightclub around 1:00am on April 17th after a man reported he was robbed in the parking lot of the restaurant.

Police, including Det. Cobane, stopped three men near the scene, and a freelance videographer later captured Det. Cobane kicking one of the men in... (more)

A Seattle man previously convicted of setting fires and attempting to derail trains has been charged with kidnapping, impersonating a police officer, and attempted extortion after he allegedly called an escort to his apartment, told her he was a cop, and tried to coerce her into having sex with him.

Julian Tarver, 25, allegedly contacted an escort on August 21st through an ad on Craigslist and asked her to come to his apartment in the 700 block of N 95th in North Seattle.

When the 18-year-old woman showed up and asked for money, Tarver—an apparent Seattlecrime.com fan (lots more on that in a minute) on Department of Corrections supervision for a child pornography conviction—allegedly went into his bedroom, returned, flashed a badge, and told the woman he was an undercover Seattle police officer working with the US Marshals on a sting operation.

Tarver allegedly told the woman the marshals were waiting outside the room and would "fire or take [her] down" if she tried to leave.

The woman later... (more)

A man sustained several broken bones in his face after he was jumped in the University District earlier this week, according to a police report.

The man told police he was walking along 47th and University around 1:00, when he turned to walk up towards 15th Ave NE.

Four men jumped the man from behind, punching him in the head, and knocking him to the ground.

While the victim was on the ground, the suspects hit him in the face "numerous times," knocking him unconscious.

The man later went to the hospital where doctors found that his right eye socket had been fractured, and his nose had been broken. The man also sustained cuts to his face.

The victim wasn't able to provide police with much of a description of the suspects. The report says the four suspects were tall males in their 20s.

The man told officers he didn't recall having any altercations earlier in the evening.

We've got another report of a violent incident at one of Seattle's bestest intersections: 12th and Jefferson.

On August 27th, police were called to the intersection around 9:30pm, and found a man at a bus stop, with a wound on his hand.

The man told officers that an "unknown person" stabbed him in the left hand, between his thumb and index finger.

The man didn't see what the suspect used to stab him, and did not see where direction the suspect fled.