Police blotter Posted by Kimberly Jacobson | Sep 24, 2012 | 851 views

Police received information about a possible drug transaction in a parking lot in the 2800 block of Commercial Avenue around 5:53 p.m. Monday, Sept. 17 after several people were seen coming and going to a pickup parked in the lot. It was further reported there was a bag was on the hood of the truck and a man and woman inside the truck appeared to be under the influence of “something.”

Officers contacted a 47-year-old Hamilton man and a 43-year-old Arlington woman in the pickup. Both denied any drug involvement although they refused to allow the officers to look in the bag that had been on the hood. The man had a warrant out of Fife for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and the woman had a warrant for theft out of Marysville. Both people had suspended driver’s licenses. The warrants were extraditable and both were placed under arrest.

The woman then told police that there were drugs inside the pickup. The man allegedly admitted he used and sometimes “made” heroin. A police drug dog came to the scene and also indicated there were drugs in the vehicle.

The pickup was impounded and taken to the police station and the officers obtained a search warrant. The couple was released at the scene as the jail would not take them for booking on their warrants.

A later search of the vehicle resulted in police seizing numerous individually wrapped packages of heroin and assorted drug paraphernalia. Both now face charges of possession of heroin with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Among the other 198 cases handled by Anacortes police during the previous week:

Friday, Sept. 14

• A 17-year-old Anacortes girl was ticketed for failing to stop for a stop sign after an accident around 2:15 p.m. She reached down to pick up a textbook that fell off her car seat and didn’t stop for the stop sign on 17th Street at O Avenue.

Her car struck a vehicle driven by an 18-year-old Anacortes woman that was northbound on O Avenue. The girl’s car spun around and also hit a parked car on O Avenue. No one was injured.

• An 18-year-old Anacortes man was arrested while walking on 22nd Street after an officer confirmed he had two warrants out of Skagit County District Court for previous charges of discharging a firearm and malicious mischief. During a search of the man, the officer located a small baggy of cocaine and a syringe.

The man claimed the white powder was crushed Vicoden pills, but it tested positive for cocaine. The man was booked into jail on the warrants and new charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Saturday, Sept. 15

• A Friday Harbor teen who came to Anacortes with friends to ride their bikes for the day reported someone stole his $500 brown Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike. The bike was left leaning against the side of a business in the 1000 block of Commercial Avenue while the teens were shopping.

Sunday, Sept. 16

• An officer stopped and spoke with a woman who was walking in the area of 14th Street and M Avenue after it appeared that she was upset around 1:21 a.m. A man also appeared to be following the woman. The woman said she had been in an argument with her boyfriend and he was the man following her.

The 20-year-old boyfriend then approached and told the officer to leave. The man smelled strongly of intoxicants and his voice was slurred. He was arrested on a charge of underage drinking, and he began to struggle with officers when they tried to remove his necklace. He was booked into jail on charges of underage drinking and resisting arrest.

• A $280 pair of sunglasses, a pair of reading glasses, and vehicle registration papers were stolen from an unlocked vehicle parked under a carport of a home in the 700 block of 41st Place.

• A witness saw a car hit a light pole at a marina in the 1000 block of Q Avenue and then drive on the sidewalk around 2:48 p.m. The male driver yelled at the witness in a slurred voice before driving away from the scene.

An officer saw the car speed up R Avenue and then turn onto Highway 20 where it continued to speed away. The officer eventually caught up with the car and saw it weaving in the roadway and tailgating the car in front of it. The vehicle initially failed to yield for the officer’s emergency lights, but finally pulled over and stopped.

The driver, a 24-year-old Mount Vernon man, initially denied having been involved in a hit and run. The man had slurred speech and sluggish movements and he smelled strongly of alcohol. He allegedly admitted he had “a couple.” He displayed poor balance during sobriety tests, and he was arrested on a charge of DUI.

The man allegedly admitted he knew he “bumped” into a pole and he left the scene because he “didn’t think the pole was going to make an issue of it.” The man provided breath samples that were more than three and a half times the legal limit. He was cited for DUI.

• A man described as a 6-foot white male in his 20s wearing a dark, hooded sweatshirt and a reddish-orange backpack stole the tip jar from a coffee business in the 1000 block of 13th Street. The man reached around the side of the door and grabbed the tip jar and fled on foot. The jar only contained a few dollars.

Monday, Sept. 17

• An officer stopped a pickup in the 1000 block of 34th Street and arrested the 29-year-old male driver for having a felony warrant for identity theft and forgery. During a search of the Anacortes resident, the officer found a piece of aluminum foil in the man’s pocket that contained heroin.

The man allegedly admitted the heroin was his and he forgot it was in his pocket. The man was booked into jail on the warrant and faces new charges of possession of a controlled substance.

• Police tried to warn a 24-year-old Anacortes man walking on Commercial Avenue that his verbal outburst at the City Council meeting a short time earlier was inappropriate. The man had earlier refused to speak with the police chief, who had been at the meeting, and also when she tried to speak with the man outside of City Hall.

He made several nonsensical comments to officers as he walked up Commercial Avenue and would not stop.

Police learned he had a warrant and they advised him he was under arrest as he neared the 4000 block of O Avenue. The man took an aggressive posture and yelled that he was a “sovereign” and the police had no power over him. He refused numerous requests to put his hands behind his back and he aggressively struggled with officers.

They used a taser to subdue him. The man was taken into custody while he shouted several racial slurs at the officers and called them “Nazis.” He was taken to jail and booked on the warrant and a new charge of resisting arrest. He told the jail staff he was a “galactic anthropologist sent to earth by space aliens to study humans.”

Tuesday, Sept. 18

• An officer tried to stop a car in the downtown area after seeing the driver speeding and skidding around corners around 4:52 a.m. When the officer tried to stop the car, it raced away while failing to stop for three stop signs.

The car sped south on Q Avenue and was recorded on radar doing 85 mph in the 25 mph zone. As police did not want to endanger other motorists, they did not pursue but they saw a large cloud of dust in the 2400 block of R Avenue moments later.

Officers found the suspect vehicle failed to negotiate a curve on R Avenue and crossed the grassy median and both oncoming lanes of travel. The car came to rest partially on the sidewalk near the skate park.

A witness saw the male driver flee on foot. Police searched the area but could not find the driver. However, an officer got a good look at the driver downtown and identification was found in a backpack left in the car. The suspect was identified as a 19-year-old Anacortes resident.

Police contacted the registered owners of the car and learned no one should have been driving it. It was stolen from the 5600 block of Kingsway.

Around 2:52 a.m. Thursday, a resident of the 5500 block of Sunset Avenue reported a possible vehicle prowl after he saw an unknown man near his car who fled on foot through the bushes when he was confronted by the vehicle owner. Police were suspicious of a 19-year-old man who lived in the area who was also the suspect in the stolen vehicle incident.

Police went to the man’s home on Shannon Point Road and he came outside to speak with officers. The man smelled of intoxicants and his clothes were dirty and had foliage stuck to them. The man also had fresh bloody scratches on his face and arms consistent with running through sticker bushes.

He was arrested. Officers found a small coin bag containing several quarters in his pocket. The man denied having previously stolen the car and fleeing from the police even though the arresting officer recognized him as the same man who had fled that night. He also denied having prowled any cars.

However, a resident of the 2800 block of Grady Lane discovered his vehicle had been prowled and a coin bag stolen. The stolen coin bag matched the description of the one found in the suspect’s pocket. The man was booked into jail on charges of eluding, possession of a stolen vehicle, and vehicle prowling.

• An SUV that was left unlocked with a key inside was stolen from a home in the 4700 block of Camano Place. The owners found the vehicle abandoned about a block from their home. Nothing appeared to have been stolen.

• A 24-year-old man faces a charge of domestic violence assault after he allegedly stuck his finger into his brother’s ear and pushed hard causing pain to the brother at their residence.

The suspect brother was reported to have been confrontational with the victim brother and his girlfriend the previous few days. The suspect brother refused to respond to officer’s attempts to speak with him.

• Police were dispatched to a home regarding the report that a 21-year-old man broke a window after punching the homeowner. Police learned the 48-year-old victim intervened in a fight involving the suspect and the suspect’s brother who both lived at the house.

The suspect reacted by punching the homeowner in the eye, which caused visible swelling and ruptured blood vessels. The suspect then broke a window at the front of the house before walking away from the home.

The suspect was found walking on 12th Street and arrested. The suspect claimed he acted in self-defense, but he allegedly admitted he “might” have broken the window. He was booked into jail on charges of domestic violence assault and malicious mischief.

Wednesday, Sept. 19

• A hit and run was reported after the owner of a BMW parked near the net storage sheds at a marina in the 1400 block of Q Avenue found a large hole ripped in the metal of a rear door. A witness saw a white-colored pickup that had been converted into a flatbed back into the victim’s vehicle. The driver was reported to be a male, but his identity and the license number of the suspect vehicle are unknown.

• Police responded to a home on Haddon Lane after it was reported a 24-year-old man threatened to kill his brother and his brother’s girlfriend. The suspect brother was believed to be in possession of a shotgun and under the influence of drugs.

Police were informed upon arrival that the suspect brother did have a loaded shotgun and he locked himself in an apartment above a garage on the property. He also allegedly threatened to kill any officers who tried to arrest him.

The suspect refused officers’ and his family’s numerous requests to come outside and he said he was “not accountable to any laws made by man.”

As the man was a danger to himself and others, officers forced entry into the apartment and took him into custody. The man made several nonsensical comments including that the officers were “acting under the orders of pagan gods.” A loaded shotgun was found in the apartment.

The man was taken to the emergency room for a mental health evaluation. He faces possible criminal charges of felony harassment.

• Police responded to an apartment complex in the 1100 block of 27th Court regarding the report that a 48-year-old man had been acting belligerent and pushed two other tenants in the chest after accusing them of playing their music too loud. When police arrived, the man refused to come out of his apartment and he shouted obscenities at the officers and bystanders from an open window. He also threatened the officers and challenged them to fight although he continued to refuse to leave his apartment.

The man was informed he was under arrest and he told the officers while leaning out of the open window that they would have to “pull him out of the window.” Officers pulled him out of the open window onto the grass and arrested him.

Police received several other calls earlier in the day about the man acting aggressively and being belligerent at other public locations in the city. He was booked into jail on charges of assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

• A wallet containing about $120 was stolen from inside a home in the 1100 block of 7th Street. Police spoke with two caretakers of the victim, but both women denied any involvement in the theft.

Thursday, Sept. 20

• A 17-year-old Anacortes girl and an 18-year-old Anacortes man face charges of underage drinking after they were contacted at the cemetery parked in a car after dark. The couple said they were just talking, but the officer smelled the odor of intoxicants while speaking with them. The girl displayed several signs of drinking and allegedly admitted to drinking three cans of ale. The man also allegedly admitted he had two or three beers.

The girl was taken to the police station and released to her mother. The man told an officer he had a drinking problem and that he had been arrested for DUI a few days earlier. He was given a courtesy ride home after being cited.
Friday, Sept. 21

• An Oak Harbor woman reported someone dug deep scratches into the paint on the side of her car while it was parked in a medical facility parking lot in the 1200 block of 24th Street. The paint was damaged on two separate occasions over a two-week period while parked at the same facility.

The victim said she did not know of anyone who was mad at her that would want to deliberately damage her car. Estimated damage is $800.