Police Beat: Dad waiting to pick up his daughter grabbed by teacher

Editor’s note: compiled from reports to Tacoma police.

Sept. 6: The playground scrum pitted a parent against a teacher. It ended with a complaint to police.

About 2:30 p.m., a 44-year-old Tacoma man stopped at Edison Elementary School to pick up his 10-year-old daughter. He brought his 4-year-old girl with him to wait and play.

He’d done the same thing many times before, waiting at the school playground. He’d done it the previous day. Other parents had done the same.

This day – a Thursday – was different. A teacher, 50, approached the man and other witnesses and started to yell at them, the police report states.

The teacher, who has worked for Tacoma schools since 2000, told the man he had to leave the playground and wait in a different area. The man asked why. The teacher gave more loud orders, but not an answer, the report states.

The man said he had to get his 4-year-old daughter before he could go.

The teacher stopped him. She “grabbed him by the arm and shoulder, spun him around, and then began to physically escort” the man off the playground, the report states.

Again, the man tried to stop, saying he needed to get his young daughter. Again, the teacher said no. She would retrieve the child, she told him.

The man told police the teacher yelled throughout the encounter. He said he saw her push a female student toward the preferred exit.

The man said he’d never met the teacher before, and had no history with her. He said he knew of no custody issues or reasons for alarm. He’d waited at the playground before without any complaint from the school.

The man reported the incident to police two days later – a Saturday. The report shows no sign that officers spoke to the teacher.

Two witnesses contacted by phone gave similar accounts to police. Both said the teacher was immediately hostile and yelled at parents to leave.

One witness said the teacher was “acting crazy.” Another said she was “out of control,” and “like a pit bull.” Both said the teacher made no effort to explain a change in student pick-up rules.

Both recalled seeing the teacher grab the man by the arm, and said the teacher wouldn’t let the man get his younger daughter from the playground.

The man told police he’d notified the school principal about the incident. The report was sent to county prosecutors for consideration of possible criminal charges.

Shannon McMinimee, attorney for the Tacoma School District, told The News Tribune on Friday that district officials are “investigating an issue involving an interaction between a parent and a teacher at Edison. I believe that it is fair to say that there are different factual representations being made by those involved.”

Sept. 10: The cyclist and the dog walker parted ways – one in fear, one in anger.

The cyclist, a 34-year-old Tacoma man, was riding through the trails at Point Defiance Park shortly after 2 p.m. He reached a blind corner, turned and nearly collided with a 60-year-old man walking a pair of tan-colored dogs. The dog-walker wore a blue baseball cap with orange letters, a gray shirt and dark cargo shorts.

The cyclist got off his bike and tried to apologize, the report states. The dog-walker wasn’t pleased. He pulled a gun – it looked like a snub-nosed revolver.

“The trails are for people on foot,” the man reportedly said. “I ought to cap (you), you punk.”

The cyclist said he was going to police. The dog-walker told him to go ahead; he had a permit for the weapon.

Shaken, the cyclist pedaled away and called 911. Officers met him at the entrance to the park. He told them it was the first time he’d feared for his life since returning home from the military.

Police checked the area, but found no sign of the dog-walker.

Sept. 12: The Tacoma man wasn’t happy with a partial payment, so he took a baseball bat to his employer’s car.

The emergency call came in as a reported fight in the 800 block of South Puget Sound Avenue, and an assailant with a baseball bat. Six officers responded.

A 33-year-old Tacoma man was waiting. He said he’d hired a 35-year-old man to work for him, and came by to deliver a payment. It was $500 – only a partial payment.

The 35-year-old didn’t like that. He walked into his house, returned with a baseball bat and said he’d take the rest of what he was owed out of the other man’s truck, a 1988 Ford R-10.

Witnesses told police they saw the 35-year-old hit the truck with the bat, and chase the 33-year-old down the street, swinging the bat. When the younger man ran, the man with the bat returned, took a leaf blower out of the truck and carried it to the porch.

Police eventually found the bat-wielder hiding in a shed. He admitted taking swings at the truck. He denied taking any swings at his boss.

The man had an active arrest warrant from a previous incident. Police booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of assault and malicious mischief.

Sept. 13: The man and the woman walked along South Tacoma Way, nearing the 900 block. Both were homeless. It was about 10:25 p.m.

A silver minivan drove by. Two young men in their early 20s shouted at the walkers, calling them bums and other things.

The man and the woman told the van-riders to leave them alone. The van stopped and the two younger men jumped out.

Both carried bats – one longer, one shorter.

The man ran. The woman tried to run with him, but she couldn’t get away. The shorter of the young men caught her. He had bushy blonde hair, she remembered. He hit her with the bat – four times.

A third witness, unidentified in the police report, drove by and slowed. The bushy-haired man with the bat ran back the silver van, which sped away. Officers responded to the scene, but found no sign of the attackers.

Staff writer Debbie Cafazzo contributed to this report.

Sean Robinson: 253-597-8486 Sean.robinson@thenewstribune.com