Police Beat: No Valentine's love for shoplifting couple, dreadful woman

Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to Tacoma Police.

Feb. 14: The shoplifting couple didn’t bother with subtlety.

The woman was 21, from Tumwater. The man was 25, from Puyallup. They walked into a grocery store in the 1900 block of South 72nd Street and loaded up.

Two loss-prevention officers watched. The man gave directions to the woman. She scooped 14 “hygiene items” into her purse, according to the police report. The couple headed straight for the exit, right past the check stands.

One officer stopped the woman and told her to go back in the store. The woman shot back with profane fire.

“Do not (expletive) talk to me, don’t (expletive) tell me what to do and don’t touch me,” she said. She shifted sideways and raised her arms like a fighter – a “bladed stance,” in cop jargon.

The officer grabbed her shirt and muscled her into the store. The woman fought. By now, the second officer was locked in the same struggle with the Puyallup man.

The woman twisted, kicked, and threatened retribution. She had big, tough friends. When did the officers get off?

By the time a police officer arrived at the store, the two suspects were seated and seething in the loss-prevention office.

They denied any resistance. They said the security officers were too rough. They were going to sue the store.

The police officer said video cameras recorded the entire incident. The couple ignored him. They were innocent, they said.

The police officer cuffed them. The man said the cuffs were too tight. The officer said he wrote the cuffing instructions and trained other officers.

In the patrol car on the way to the Pierce County Jail, the man railed.

“I’ve gone to jail plenty of times,” the man said. “This is not a robbery. You are just loving it, aren’t you – (messing) up our lives so we can’t get a job.”

The officer replied calmly, the report states:

“I responded by telling him that his current situation was a result of the many poor life choices that he had made prior to this incident.”

The man said he didn’t get all that, but he was going to sue everybody.

The woman said: “I could threaten you, but I won’t.”

The officer said that was smart. A threat would add a felony charge. He booked the couple into the jail on suspicion of second-degree robbery.

Feb. 14:: The dreadful woman was back. She was a semi-regular at the restaurant in the 8600 block of South Hosmer Street.

The dreadful woman was 56. She used a wheelchair. She’d caused trouble at the restaurant before. She’d been told not to come back. She came back, anyway.

A worker saw her rolling up to the front door shortly after 8 a.m. The worker zipped to the second set of doors and blocked them, telling the woman she couldn’t come in.

The woman pushed her wheelchair forward into the worker’s legs, forcing her back. The worker said she was calling police. The woman ignored her. She yelled and screamed. She demanded coffee. She said the workers couldn’t refuse to serve her.

She rolled to the order counter. She rose from her wheelchair and walked behind the counter to the coffee urns. A second worker tried to block her path. The woman shoved her aside and poured herself a cup.

The workers told her to leave. She ignored them. She started talking to customers. One was a soldier. She told him he shouldn’t be in the military.

One worker talked to another in Korean. The woman told her to go back to Korea and said the worker was part of a Korean conspiracy. She called the workers “white witches in black clothing.”

Finished with her coffee, the woman rolled outside for a cigarette. When police officers arrived, she swung her arms and accused the officers of being in league with the Taliban.

She wouldn’t get out of her chair. When officers tried to cuff her, she let her body go limp. They dragged her into the car.

The officers gave the woman a formal warning. She was banned from the restaurant, again. They booked her into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor assault.

Feb. 12: The repo man was scruffy but slick. He claimed to be a cop and flashed a phony badge.

The call started as a confusing fraud report. A Tacoma officer rolled to an apartment complex in the 2600 block of Westridge Avenue West. The officer greeted a pair of Lakewood Police officers, already at the scene on a separate call tied to the same circumstances.

The Lakewood officers were chasing a report of a black Mercedes purchased with a worthless cashier’s check. The repo man had filed the complaint. He supplied the contract for the car, along with an address, lease agreement and photocopied ID for the suspected check-writer, who lived in the apartment complex.

The lease agreement was the weird part. It was a private document. Repo Man snagged it with a ruse. A front-desk employee at the apartment complex explained.

Repo Man had shown up at the apartment complex. He looked to be in his mid-50s. He had bushy black hair and a goatee. He said he was an undercover detective for the Washington State Patrol, and he needed information about a resident. He threw down a copy of the phony check. He asked if anyone had seen the black Mercedes.

The front-desk worker noticed a badge dangling from a chain around Repo Man’s neck. The worker had a friend who worked for the State Patrol. Did Repo Man know him?

Repo Man said the name was familiar, but he wasn’t sure. He said he worked in the fraud department. He used to be in patrol, but now he worked with the old guys on fraud cases. He said he was one of those guys who drove a big black truck and surprised you.

The worker was uneasy. Repo Man didn’t look like a cop – but there was that dangling badge. The worker told the apartment manager, who handed over the lease agreement and a copy of the photo ID. Repo Man took the paper and left.

The Tacoma officer ran Repo Man’s name and linked him to an Olympia address. He didn’t work for the State Patrol. Impersonating a police officer is a crime. The report was filed for further investigation.

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