November 6, 2012, 3:45 p.m.
November 3
Fraud. At approximately 9:01 p.m., Officer Carla Sias returned a call to a Bainbridge resident concerning her checking and savings account. The woman told Sias that she had received a letter from BECU confirming she wanted to change her address for her accounts. She checked her account online and learned that the address had been changed on the accounts. It was not authorized. She said she looked up the address online and it appears to be a residence. She and her husband had called BECU to try to check activity on their accounts but were unsuccessful due to their having been closed. She mentioned that they had sold a house, which had closed about two weeks earlier. They had been members of BECU since 1990 and had never had any problems until now.
Knife in Can. At approximately 3:25 p.m., Cencom dispatched Bainbridge units to a found property detail involving a knife. Officer Carla Sias called the resident of Phelps Road who said he had found a kitchen knife in the bottom of his outdoor garbage can. Sias responded to his house and he showed her the untouched steak knife in the bottom of the can. He said he had put the can out on the street Tuesday night for Wednesday pickup. He picked up the can at 6 p.m. but didn’t notice the knife at that time. The knife is a serrated Farberware steak knife with a white plastic handle. It was placed into found property.
Burglary. At 15 minutes after midnight, Officers Victor Cienega and Gary Koon were dispatched to a burglary on Country Club Road. They met Lieutenant Denise Giuntoli there at a residence. Koon contacted the reporting party who relayed that he and his wife and two sons had returned home around 10 p.m. As they were driving into their driveway, a silver car, which they believed might have been an Audi hatchback, sped out of their driveway. At the time they thought it must have been somebody lost or turning around but after entering their home they noticed several items were missing: a Gibson six-string guitar estimated at $600, three wireless Xbox controllers valued at approximately $60 each, a nylon CD case with approximately 30 Xbox CD games valued at approximately $40 each, and an Apple iPod touch valued at $200. The man said that his son, who attends Bainbridge High School, had mentioned that two boys from school drive a similar vehicle, but they are not friends of his son. The man said he rents the home and had only lived there a few months. He said that the owner had mentioned that kids were hanging out in the home when it was empty before he moved in. Koon and Cienega walked the exterior of the home and saw no signs of forced entry. The man said they might have left their back door open and that there is a spare key outside. There is no security alarm or cameras. Koon instructed the man to contact the department with any additional information about the missing items, such as serial numbers.
November 2
Deer vs. Car. Unit 1 was traveling south on State Highway 305 when a deer ran into the road approximately 400 feet south of Morgan Road. Unit 1 was unable to stop in time to avoid hitting the deer and damaging the front of the vehicle.
Car vs. Bus. Vehicle 1 was eastbound in the intersection at High School Road and 305. Traffic in front of the vehicle was backed up and the driver could not cross the intersection. The signal then turned red for east-west traffic and vehicles began to move forward. As Vehicle 1 moved forward, Vehicle 2, a Kitsap Transit Bus, entered the intersection on the green light for north-south traffic. Vehicle 1 scraped across the front of Vehicle 2.
The damage to Vehicle 2 was across the passenger side of the car, with the bulk of the damage being to the passenger side door. The damage consisted of horizontal scrapes and cuts to the metal and plastic. It was apparent that lateral sheer forces had caused the damage. The damage to Vehicle 2 was mostly confined to the bike carrier mounted on the front bumper of the bus. The frame tubes were bent in a lateral direction. One of the bikes on the carrier sustained damage to the right brake hand assembly.
The bus driver told Lieutenant Bob Day that he had been northbound on 305 and was stopped for the light at High School. He was in the outside travel lane. He said that the light turned green and he began to enter the intersection when the other car came from his left and collided with the front of the bus. Three passengers on the bus gave similar versions of events. They said that the light for east-west traffic turned yellow and a car went through the intersection eastbound, shortly followed by Vehicle 1. One witness said that he was sure the light was red before Vehicle 1 entered the intersection.The other two passengers were less sure.
The driver of Vehicle 1 said that he had been eastbound on High School and was caught in the intersection on the green light for east-west traffic. He said that eastbound traffic was backed up and stopped. He noted that the light turned red and he saw that he could get across the intersection. As he was doing so, his passenger warned him of the bus starting to move. The driver said he believed the bus driver did not give him enough room to clear out of the intersection before the collision. The driver of Vehicle 1 was cited for not being able to provide evidence of having liability insurance.
Domestic Violence. At 4:17 in the morning, Cencom advised of a domestic verbal on Wallace Way. The caller, a male in a wheelchair, was calling because his girlfriend wouldn’t let him leave her residence. Cencom advised that the caller said the confrontation had been physical. The male wouldn’t say what had been physical. Officer Walt Berg arrived in the area and waited for Officer Steve Cain. When he arrived they knocked on the apartment door. A woman answered the door and they entered. Berg observed a male seated in a wheelchair in the living room wearing only his underwear and a shirt.
The officers separated the two, Cain going outside with the woman while Berg spoke inside with the man. Prior to her leaving with Cain, the woman showed both officers a large bruise on her upper right arm, saying her boyfriend had done that to her. It was clear to both officers that the bruise was several days old. Both the man and the woman were intoxicated and both admitted to having been drinking earlier in the evening.
The man told Berg that he and his girlfriend had been arguing and that he had decided to return to his apartment in the complex, two doors away. He said she would not let him leave and physically restrained him by grabbing onto his shirt. When Berg asked if she had assaulted him, he hesitated and said he didn’t want to get her into any trouble. He said, “Let’s just leave it at her not allowing me to leave. I just want to go home.” Berg did not see any fresh injuries on the man, though he did appear to have some old ones.
The man told Berg that the bruising on his girlfriend’s arm had happened over the weekend. He said that she had spent the night at his apartment. He said that she sometimes wakes up in fits of rage and begins hitting him about the head and shoulders. He said that is what had happened over the weekend. He said his only defense is to grab her by the arms in an “arm bar,” which is what he did on that night.
Cain and Berg conferred on the porch. They concluded that the woman’s injuries were old and, without the man confirming that she had assaulted him that night, there was no probably cause for arresting her for DV assault.
The officers advised both of them that they were going to document the incident. The woman was cautioned that physically restraining someone from leaving her residence could consitute unlawful imprisonment and result in arrest if she were to do it again in the future. She kept talking about the bruise on her arm, but her story about it changed. She said it had happened that night, then she said it had happened several days earlier, and then she said it had happened that night. The officers told her it was several days old, and she challenged them on that.
Both parties were told to stay at their respective apartments for the remainder of the night. I they did not and the police got called back, they said, there was a high likelihood of someone going to jail. The woman seemed concerned that Judge Carruthers would get a copy of the report. The officers told her they had no control over where the report would be going and that if she was concerned about the Judge finding out about things she was doing, she should stop doing those things.
November 1
Squashed Political Pumpkin. A resident of Manitou Beach Drive reported that his carved pumpkin with the word Obama in the place of the pumpkin’s “mouth” had been smashed. Another pumpkin carved with “2012″ was untouched.
October 31
In a Hurry to Catch the Ferry. Vehicle 2 was traveling eastbound on New Brooklyn Road and stopped for a stop sign at the intersection with Madison Ave. The driver began to make a right turn but had to stop for traffic. Vehicle 1 was directly behind Vehicle 2. After Vehicle 2 began moving forward, Vehicle 1 also began to move forward but didn’t stop when Vehicle 2 did. Vehicle 1 hit the rear of Vehicle 2. The driver of Vehicle 1 said she was in a hurry to catch the ferry and wanted to leave the scene quickly. She left her contact and insurance information with the driver of Vehicle 2. Neither vehicle had reportable damage but they did sustain minor or surface damage. The driver of Vehicle 2 said she had some neck pain caused by the jolt of impact. When Officer Scott Weiss interviewed the driver of Vehicle 1, she said she had been in a hurry to catch the ferry and she said the reason she had hit the rear of Vehicle 2 was that it had stopped abruptly.
October 30
Brother v. Husband. Officer Jeff Benkert responded to the station to meet the victim of an assault. The victim told Benkert that he had been assaulted by his wife’s brother at around 10:30 that morning. He explained that he and his wife live in Medina. They are on Bainbridge to divide up the estate of his late mother in law. He and his wife and his brother in law are all staying at a residence on Rockaway Beach Rd. The man said that his brother in law is a volatile man from New York. He said they’ve never gotten along. He said that his brother in law was not happy with the disposition of the estate. He was angry because he wanted to retrieve his items during the summer but was unable to because of a movie shoot located at the house. The brother in law was skeptical that the shoot had ever happened.
The man said that, on the morning of the 30th, he and his wife were taking out the belongings that had been given to them as the brother in law retrieved his. At around 10:30 he heard his wife and brother in law yelling at each other in the kitchen. He heard the brother call his sister a bitch. When he entered the kitchen, he said he saw the brother pushing and grabbing his sister. He intervened to save his wife from physical harm. This instigated a new altercation between the man and his brother in law. He said he pushed the brother in law to get him out of the house. During the altercation, his glasses were broken and he was tackled to the ground. He said his shoulder hurt. His glasses had been broken by a glancing punch. He said the brother in law was a habitual violent offender in New York.
Benkert responded to the Rockaway Beach address to speak with the other parties. He met the brother in law who was very eager to speak with him. He said that he had been attacked by the reporting party. He said he was in Washington to claim his belongings from the estate of his deceased mother. He said he was extremely frustrated by the process. He did not believe his sister when she told him the house was not accessible over the summer. He admitted he was in a bad mood on the day of the move. He had had to fly across country and he was emotional about his mother’s death. Further, he had just found out that his home in New York had been flooded by Hurricane Sandy and his neighborhood had been severely damaged and evacuated.
He said he had been in the kitchen moving things around when he had dropped a glass object. The object did not break but made a loud sound. He admitted that he had then begun yelling and cursing loudly. This prompted his brother in law to enter the room. The brother in law confronted him and told him his behavior was inappropriate and demanded that he leave. He responded that he had every right to be there and for the brother in law to leave him alone. He said that when he said he wasn’t going anywhere, his brother in law began pushing him toward the door. He said he never assaulted his brother in law but only tried to get away from his attempts to push him out of the house. He had no visible injuries. He accused his brother in law of being a violent person who had been arrested for child abuse and domestic violence.
Benkert then spoke to the wife and sister. She said that her husband and brother have never gotten along. She said she had been married for 30 years and had tried to keep him away from her brother the entire time. She said her brother is volatile and is commonly confrontational. She said that on October 30, she was in the kitchen of the residence when her brother entered. He was in a foul mood and was yelling and shouting. She said he was yelling both at her and at nothing. He was upset about the flood in New York, the rain on the day of the move, and about the movie shoot delaying the process.
Benkert asked her if her brother had assaulted her. She said he had not. She said the only time she had been involved was when she had been trying to separate the two as they were pushing and grabbing at each other. She said the confrontation had begun when her husband had entered the room and told her brother he was not welcome there. Her brother told her husband that he was not going anywhere. She said the two stood face to face in a confrontational way. Benkert asked her to describe the situation but she was unable to do so. Benkert asked her if it was like a boxing match when the two fighters stand face to face and stare at each other. She said that that was exactly what it looked like. She said it had all begun so fast she was unable to tell who had initiated it. She believed the two had grabbed each other at the same time. She said it didn’t appear as if either man had injured the other. After a few moments of pushing and shoving, her husband had left the house to calm down as her brother continued to remove his items.
Benkert’s investigation revealed no dominant aggressor in the assault. He requested that the report be forwarded to the prosecutor for consideration of charges.
Odd Metal Parts. A Fletcher Bay Road resident reported that he had found unusual metal parts, similar to a gas pipe, left on the railing near the entrance to his home in the location where he had left a package for a former resident. The package for the former resident had been delivered to them on October 29. His wife had called the former resident and told her about the delivery. They left a message with a male at that number that the package would be left on their doorstep. At around 5 p.m., they noticed that the package was gone and there were three metallic objects there instead and a window near the objects was broken.
Arrest for DUI. At about 5:45 in the evening, Cencom requested a warrant confirmation on a Suquamish woman being questioned by Suquamish PD and the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department. Officer Steve Cain located two warrants for her arrest, one for DUI and one for driving with a suspended license. The woman was taken to the Kitsap County Jail.
Deceased Driver? At 1:20 in the afternoon, Officer Mo Stich was driving southbound on Highway 305 approaching Day Road when she noticed that the vehicle in front of her had tabs that had expired in July. She confirmed it with Cencom and found out that the plates themselves had been cancelled. She saw that there was a photo attached to the file, and she asked Cencom to run it. It returned with a “driver deceased” status. She could not see if the driver was a female or a male. She stopped the driver at 305 and Day. The driver, who was male, said that the car had belonged to his sister who had died. He said he was unaware that the tabs had expired and the plate had been cancelled. He said he had financial issues and had recently been a victim of theft. He went on about this at length, but Stich stopped him and said she understood but he was still driving with cancelled plates. Stich cited him and released him.
Online Fraud. A man came into the station to report a fraudulent charge on his debit card through Columbia Bank. The charge was made on October 29 for $77.94. He had not authorized the charge. The bank was reversing the charges and changing his account information, but he needed a police case number. The charge was from Senior People Meet. Officer Scott Weiss conducted a quick Internet search that showed this to be an online dating service that has accumulated a great number of complaints relating to scammers and fraudulent activity.
