Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to Tacoma Police.
Dec. 11: The Tacoma man said burglars had come through a hole in the basement and planted the drugs. The cops were skeptical.
The call came in as a reported complaint of drug activity. Three officers from the Department of Corrections joined a pair of Tacoma officers to check an address in the 2000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
The tenant, a 29-year-old man, was under community supervision from a previous conviction. Drugs were a no-no.
He answered the door in his skivvies, looking a little bleary. It was 8:52 a.m., and he’d been asleep, along with his girlfriend.
Officers spotted a mirror on the coffee table in front of the TV. On the mirror sat a glass tube, a straw and white residue. A search turned up a plastic bag that tested positive for methamphetamine.
The man claimed he’d been burgled the previous night. He’d come to his door and heard voices.
Had he called police?
No, the man said.
That seemed strange, the officer said drily. He pointed to other valuable items in the house: the TV, electronics. Nothing stolen.
The man couldn’t explain. He pointed to a hole in the wall. He claimed that “mystical unknown subjects” came through it, the report states.
An officer looked at the hole. Maybe a human could squeeze through it, but it seemed unlikely.
Officers booked the man into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of drug possession. Before he was hauled away, the man asked his girlfriend to take care of Jake the dog.
Dec. 1: The 42-year-old man sat on the front step with a bloody nose and muddy pants, shaking off the cobwebs.
Officers found him in the 1900 block of South L Street, complaining that he’d been assaulted.
The man said he’d been walking down the street when a car pulled up and a man he knew stepped out and yelled.
The man was 29. He went by the street name Peanut. He wanted the money he was owed.
The 42-year-old said he didn’t have any money. He’d pay Peanut later.
Peanut wasn’t satisfied. He demanded the older man’s cellphone. The older man wouldn’t give it up. Peanut took a swing and missed. The older man backed up and slipped in the mud. Peanut punched him in the face. He took the man’s phone, his comb and $2. He stabbed the older man with the comb, jumped back in the car and drove away.
The older man declined medical aid. He said Peanut was a gangster. Police searched the area but found no trace of the attacker.
Nov. 26: The 56-year-old woman pulled into her driveway in the 1400 block of South 37th Street. A man walked up and knocked on the driver’s window.
The man was dirty, maybe 35 or 40. He wore a black hoodie and dark pants. The woman rolled the window down. The man pulled a knife, held it to her throat and demanded her wallet. She handed it over. The man ran.
The woman ran into her house, locked the door and called police. Around the same moment, officers had detained a man who roughly matched the description of her attacker. Officers had the woman take a look. She said it wasn’t the same guy. An area check for her attacker was fruitless. Police filed the report as a strong-arm robbery.
Dec. 4: Faced with a suspicious-looking object in the parking lot, the Tacoma woman did the right thing. She didn’t touch it.
The object was a black cylinder, placed in the middle of a parking stall in the 2100 block of South Alder Street.
The woman looked at it, blocked the parking stall with a big cardboard box and called police.
Officers arrived and sized up the situation. The woman couldn’t say how long the object had been there. She couldn’t recall any threatening messages to the business, or any recent disputes between employees and customers.
The cylinder was wrapped in black tape. A fuse stuck out from one end. Explosives experts carefully examined it. The prognosis: a sparkler bomb. The team dismantled it and kept it as evidence.
Sean Robinson: 253-597-8486
sean.robinson@thenewstribune.com
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