Police beat: An agile prowler, a table-thrower, and beer denied

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

Jan. 16: Compared to auto glass, makeshift plastic windows aren’t much of a deterrent to car prowlers.

The dispatch call came from a motel in the 8800 block of South Hosmer Street. A guest was detaining a suspected thief.

Officers drove to the address and found a 42-year-old man holding a 43-year-old woman.

“I caught her inside my vehicle,” the man said, before releasing the woman.

The woman said she thought the car, a red 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe, belonged to her friend, who said the woman was allowed to go into the car and “get some stuff.”

Who was the friend, the officer asked.

“Jessica,” the woman said.

Where was Jessica?

The woman couldn’t say.

How could the officer get in touch with Jessica?

The woman said she didn’t know, but Jessica lived in the Salishan neighborhood.

The officer cuffed the woman, stowed her in a patrol car, and spoke to the man.

The man said he was in his motel room when he heard his car alarm go off. He stepped outside and saw the woman inside the car, rummaging through the glove box.

He caught her and told her to put his wallet and cigarettes back, then yelled at his wife to call 911, and held on to the woman until officers arrived, he said.

The officer looked at the Tahoe. The rear lift-gate window was a repair job, covered with plastic and taped. The plastic had a hole in it.

The officer guessed that the woman made the hole and crawled through it.

On the way to the Pierce County Jail, he asked how she’d made it from the back of the car to the front and the glove box.

“I am athletic,” the woman said.

Jan. 18: If you want to get police attention, try throwing a restaurant table into traffic.

Officers answering an unrelated call in the 2100 block of North 30th Street saw a man standing and shouting in front of the restaurant. He picked up a table and threw it, causing passing cars to swerve and stop.

The man, 31, matched the description from two earlier calls in the same area, where he had been seen shouting and throwing garbage cans. Officers flagged him down not far from the restaurant.

Seeing emergency lights, the man dropped to the ground and spread his arms wide.

“Thank God,” he said. “I have these people pre-empting me. Take me to jail. I did this so I could go to jail.”

A restaurant worker told officers she saw the man throw the table, which rolled into traffic and blocked a lane. Workers said they didn’t need the man banned from the place, but they wanted him to get help. Officers booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of disorderly conduct.

Jan. 19: The man wanted more beer, and he backed up the demand with threats.

The dispatch call came from a convenience store in the 8400 block of South Hosmer Street. The clerk reported an unwanted customer who wouldn’t take no for an answer when she refused to sell him alcohol. He threatened to assault her, she said. He might have a knife.

Officers found a 37-year-old man walking along the street who matched the clerk’s description: a black and green Seahawks baseball hat, a white shirt and sweatpants.

The man was unsteady, staggering as he walked. He smelled like liquor. Officers stopped him and cuffed him, but found no knife.

The man muttered a lament.

“They can’t refuse to sell me beer,” he said. “I was just trying to buy some beer, and that (woman) won’t sell it to me. She can’t do that.”

Cuffed and seated in the patrol car, the man kept complaining about denial of service.

Officers spoke to the clerk, who told a longer version of her story. The man came in and tried to buy beer, but he looked drunk, so she refused.

The man went outside, she said, and spoke to someone else, who came in and tried to buy beer. Believing it was a proxy buy, the woman said no again.

At that point, the man stormed into the store, shouted at the woman and called her names. She told him to leave or she would call police.

The man said go ahead, police wouldn’t do anything, but he would do something to her. The woman told police she was afraid at that point, since the man had been in and out of the store multiple times that night.

Officers told the man he was under arrest for the threats. The man responded with curses, and said, “She can’t not give me my beer.” Officers booked him into the Pierce County Jail.

This story was originally published January 21, 2017 at 1:38 PM with the headline "Police beat: An agile prowler, a table-thrower, and beer denied."