Before we update you on the latest burglaries and car crimes in Maple Leaf, here’s some good news from the police report on a foiled robbery the evening of Saturday, Feb. 5.
Just before 6 p.m., a pizza delivery man parked in the alley in the 400 block of Northeast 82nd Street to deliver his pies, according to the report.
When he returned to his vehicle, he found two men in a Honda trying to turn down the alley. “The occupants of the suspect vehicle got out and voiced their displeasure that (he) had parked his car in a manner blocking the alley,” the police report says.
“The driver (suspect #1) then made the comment, ‘why don’t you give me your wallet to call this even,'” police said. The delivery man refused, and both men advanced on him, demanding: “Give me your wallet!”
The driver threw a punch at the delivery man, who dodged and smashed the driver in the face, apparently hard. “The punch caused suspect #1 to fall back requiring suspect #2 to catch and prevent suspect 1 from falling to the ground,” the police report states.
At that point another car came around the corner and both suspects jumped in their car and left, the report states.
The driver is described as white and clean-shaven, 25-28 years old, 5-foot-9 and about 180 pounds with a stocky build and short dark hair. He was wearing a white T-shirt and dark sweat pants.
The other man was about the same age and height, also white and clean-shaven, weighing about 160 pounds with a medium build and short, spiky, military cut hair. He was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and jeans.
Their four-door sedan was from the late 1980s or early 1990s, police said.
Self-defense is certainly problematic. An anonymous Marine gunnery sergeant once said, “In a street situation, it’s (sometimes) best to beat feet,” meaning, essentially, run for your life.
A saying that may also apply is “descretion is the better part of valor.”
In the case of the pizza deliveryman who was asked to surrender his wallet, he did indeed take a chance; that chance being, if he’d guessed wrong, and the two men who demanded his wallet had weapons, he might have died for the contents of his wallet. But given that he works hard for his money, he took that as a risk worth taking.
Certainly, violence can escalate; and here in Maple Leaf, it could get to a point, where armed criminals came to the neighborhood; and the only way to ensure safety, would be to be equally armed, or even more heavily armed, as the saying goes. But given that most of the crimes having been reported are car prowls or break-ins, that seems unlikely.
Back in September of 2008, a young man used a rifle to either defend himself, or ensure that something – reportedly a piece of sound equipment – was not taken from his truck. The person he shot – also a young man – died. The shooter was arrested, tried and found guilty of manslaughter; and he served some time in jail – less than a year, but enough – and paid a fine.
But the ultimate fine is the fact that from the time he killed someone, until his own passing, he will have to live with having killed someone; and given that he was only 19 when he did so, that’s a long time to carry that memory.
The problem is, sometimes, there’s no time to think about the long term results of what one does, one must act quickly; and in haste, one doesn’t always make the best decisions. A bit of forethought goes a long way. One has to be ready for the worst, while hoping for the best.
That all said, anyone who is new to the neighborhood, should go to Cloud City Coffee, have a beverage of choice and sit down and look at the families, oftentimes with children, around him or her. Then, you will understand the neighborhood; and why people are so protective of it.
Right Carol, or maybe next time Thug1 and Thug2 will decide to carry weapons and use them on anyone offering resistance. So think twice about that as well. Celebrating and encouraging violence, even righteous violence, is not going do to anything but lead to more violence.
I am offering a practical observation here, not a political viewpoint. By all means, defend yourself with full vigor if you deem it necessary. But be aware we have had people in this area seriously injured by resisting thugs. And we have had people create serious legal problems for themselves as well, when they were not so much in the right as they thought they were. Use good judgment – no amount of property is worth loss of life, limb or liberty.
I do hope the pizza guy broke Thug1’s nose so it might be easy to track him down. If Thug1 and Thug2 were hurt, so much the better. Perhaps they will think twice the next time they decide to do crimes.
I disagree about this blog only focusing on crime. Would you rather NOT know where crimes are being committed?
This site has so much information about goings-on in the neighborhood. It is a local treasure.
We post about lost chickens, too.
More seriously, we’re working on a crime roundup, and will try to address your questions there.
Hi,
I am new to this neighborhood and a little nervous that it seems as if ALL this blog discusses is robberies and car thefts. It seems rare that it reports on other happenings of the neighborhood. Is it right to assume that we have moved to a high crime area? It is great to be informed…but interesting that none of the other seattle neighborhood blogs report on this type of stuff as often…any thoughts?
yikes, that’s kind of scary, glad no one was hurt.