Ballard police

Heroin and bogus bucks

After dropping off some passengers on Holman Road, a cab driver call 911 when they did not pay the fare. The suspects then started pounding on the outside of the cab. When the police arrived a woman passenger was screaming, asking for her bags from the trunk. The driver told officers he had ejected the two people when they started swearing and opening the car door while in transit. When the driver asked for the $8.70 fare, the couple turned hostile punching him in the face through the open window.

The responding officer had to call for back up.

"He (the suspect) gave me several pre-attack indicators that made me wonder if he was going to be 'assaultive,' such as ignoring me, speaking over me whenever I attempted to talk to him, not making eye contact, reaching repeatedly when I told him not to, walking around me instead of staying in one position and not obeying commands," the officer reported.

The officer physically restrained the suspect and placed him in the patrol car. The suspect ended up in jail, where heroin and counterfeit money ($5 bills "washed" to look like $100) was found in his possession.

Beer bottle theft

When a man had a bottle of beer stolen from him, police officers responded. The suspect was last seen fleeing north on 17th Avenue Northwest and Northwest Market Street. He was described as short, with two front teeth missing. Officers caught the suspect and he was positively identified as the bad guy. After being questioned, officers determined the man who was robbed was intoxicated and the suspect appeared to be a friend. A computer check revealed the suspect had a warrant for his arrest by the California State Probation Department.

Car prowlers at work

On May 5, on First Avenue Northwest, the passenger window of a car was smashed as a thief stole an Alpine car stereo. That same day a car prowler entered an apartment complex garage without using any force and smashed a car window, stealing the garage door opener.

While a woman dined at a Shilshole Avenue restaurant, a thief broke into the trunk of her car and stole a briefcase containing a company laptop.

Looking out his window one afternoon, a Ballard man saw a suspect inside his Volvo and went out to confront him. The suspect said "I'm just looking," as the owner stood beside his car. Meanwhile the man heard his wife saying she was on the phone with 911. The suspect left eastbound on Northwest 83rd Street. The car door was left unlocked and the suspect entered the car without force.

Purse in the shopping cart

Loading merchandise she had just bought at a Ballard drug store, a woman left her purse unattended as she turned her back towards the trunk of her car. When she turned around, the purse was gone.

Catalytic converters nabbed

Officers were sent to a home on Eighth Avenue Northwest when a Toyota truck's catalytic converter was stolen. The thieves left a three-inch saw blade that was used to cut off the part from under the car. The next day, a woman went to the North Precinct to report the catalytic converter on her 2000 Honda CRV missing.

No club cards allowed

A suspect ordered a hot dog from a stand in north Seattle. Instead of paying with money, the suspect handed over a free admission card for a fancy nightclub at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas. The vendor demanded payment in cash and three of the suspect's friends jumped him. The vendor was bitten in the cheek during the struggle.

The suspects escaped in a black Mercedes E320. The vendor told police the suspects had been hanging out near the hot dog stand all night and were picking fights with people.