Police blotter March 20
March 20, 2013
By Administrator
DUI, but not five
At about 8:24 p.m. March 9, police noticed a car swerving on 244th Avenue Northeast. When officers pulled the car over, the driver said “I screwed up, I have a warrant.” Police found the driver did have two outstanding warrants for DUI. Officers called in another officer who is a specialist in dealing with DUI cases.
When that officer arrived, he noticed the driver standing handcuffed, crying, with a strong odor of intoxicants on his breath. The driver said he was likely going to prison for a year since this would be his fifth DUI.
He consented to a field sobriety test and failed it. Police drove him to Harborview Medical Center for a blood test. During the drive, he shared with the officer parts of his life story, including his struggle with alcoholism.
After arriving at Harborview, the officer checked and could find only two DUI incidents, but noted there may have been others that would not show up on the initial check.
As the officer was reading the driver his rights, he explained that five DUIs in 10 years is a felony. At the mention of it being a felony, the driver became angry and hostile. The driver threatened to head butt anyone who got close to him attempting to draw blood.
Staff at Harborview insisted on a search warrant before drawing blood, which police obtained. They were then able to draw blood, while the driver unleashed a stream of unprintable profanities at the Sammamish police and other law enforcement.
However, it seems the driver had miscounted. Upon a complete review of his record, police determined the driver did not have the minimum number of DUIs required for a felony.
Who were they?
A woman on the 2100 block of 233 Place Northeast called police to report that between 2 and 3:30 p.m. March 5, a group of men were milling about in her neighborhood. The men were carrying paperwork and seemed affiliated with a silver van. The woman reported that the men, who she believed to be in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, could have been observing the neighborhood in advance of burglarizing some houses. She noted there had been break-ins in the neighborhood recently. The men did not approach any of the homes.
She did not wish police to come to the area, and simply wanted to provide information.
Scammed senior
A Sammamish senior citizen fell victim to a grandchild-in-distress scam between Feb. 28 and March 1.
She got a call from a young man who sounded like her grandson and knew personal details about the family, including what he calls her, and the name of his fiancé. He said he’d gotten into trouble in Mexico and needed $1,600 to clear it up. The woman wired the funds, even after the person at the wiring company double checked that she wanted to do so.
A few days later, she was able to contact her grandson who was not in trouble. He informed her that someone had attempted the same scam with his other grandmother and his mother.
Not quite drunk
Police pulled a man over after seeing him speeding on Issaquah-Pine Lake Road at 1:43 a.m. March 3. Officers reached speeds of more than 90 mph as they chased the driver, and the driver was still pulling away.
The incident was not a chase, because officers were not able to get close enough to the vehicle to indicate they wished him to pull over. Eventually, they were able to stop the diver, who smelled of intoxicants.
He performed poorly on field sobriety tests, but blew a 0.77 on the Breathalyzer, below the legal limit of 0.8. Officers are recommending he be charged with negligent driving.
Comparison
shoplifter
Police responded to a call that someone had shoplifted from Radio Shack between 6:10 and 6:22 p.m. March 9. A man described as a white male in his 30s, about 6-feet-one-inch tall and 220 pounds, wearing a white beanie with a black stripe and a black puffy jacket entered the store. He walked around, asking questions about external hard drives and then other weirder questions.
An employee was watching the male in the reflection in the front window as the male ripped one of the external hard drives, which cost about $120, off a locked rack. He then moved around a corner. When he was in view again, the hard drive was not visible. He then quickly exited the store and went to a waiting vehicle, a red 1990’s-era foreign car with a loud muffler.
Police were able to determine he had not simply dropped the hard drive in the store, but found no other evidence.
Angry ladies
Police spotted a vehicle driving fast along East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast at about 2:24 a.m. March 9. As officers pursued the vehicle, they clocked the driver at 63 mph in a 35 mph zone. Officers caught up to the vehicle as it pulled into small roadway at Northeast Seventh Court.
As he approached the vehicle, the officer noticed the odor of intoxicants and asked the driver to step out of the car for a field sobriety test. The driver complied, but two female passengers also got out of the car and began shouting at the officer as they approached him.
They, who the officer said were “highly intoxicated,” were trying to explain the driver was a designated driver and was sober. The officer said he understood, but he still needed to complete the tests.
As the women grew more belligerent, the officer called for backup. After backup arrived, another officer was able to convince the women to get back in the car. The officer began conducting the tests, and decided that the driver was, indeed sober.
Yet, as the testing proceeded, the women got back out of the car and began interfering with it. Even the driver asked the women to calm down so he could take the tests, but to no avail. The officers placed the women under arrest, as they struggled.
The women were eventually subdued, and taken to jail. Officers are recommending they both be charged with obstructing a public servant, and one be charged with resisting arrest. The officer later found out the driver had a suspended license for an unpaid ticket and is recommending he be charged for driving with a suspended license.
Car prowls
Police received reports of a string of car prowls overnight between March 4 and 5.
u In an incident at the 900 block of 224th Court Southeast, someone went into a woman’s unlocked vehicle and took items. Someone also smashed out the front window of a neighbor’s vehicle. Combined, about $1,431 worth of goods were taken, including a guitar, computer, credit cards and gift cards.
u On the 300 block of 239th Way Southeast, someone entered a vehicle and took a Bluetooth and portable DV player worth a total of $170.
u On the 23900 block of Southeast Seventh Street, someone smashed out a window and took an iPod worth $150.
u On the 23900 block of Southeast Seventh Street, someone took a laptop computer and bag worth a combined $2,600.
Didn’t need
the heat
Police stopped a vehicle after it drove through the Pine Lake shopping center at 10:49 p.m. March 4. The officer did a check on the vehicle and noticed the registered owners are Snoqualmie residents with extensive criminal histories including narcotics, burglary and larceny.
He pulled the vehicle over at the corner of 228th Avenue and Southeast 10th Street where he recognized the driver.
He asked what they were doing in Sammamish, and the driver and two other occupants said they were there to meet a friend.
However, when they saw the police, they decided to call off the meeting because they, “didn’t need the heat.”
The officer asked them if they were up to no good, and they replied they were not.
Items in the Police Blotter come from Sammamish Police reports.
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that I terrible… Did he eventually get caught?