Police beat: Racy video chat, a parking space fight and a quarrel over smoking

Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and Tacoma police.

March 5: The invitation to a video chat seemed innocent enough — until the Spanaway man showed too much skin.

The sheriff’s deputy picked up a dispatch call reporting attempted extortion. He drove to an address in the 100 block of 177th Street East and spoke to the man, who said a woman he didn’t know sent a Facebook friend request.

The woman’s page said she lived in Orting. She listed two mutual friends the man knew. He accepted the friend request and started talking to the woman over Skype, an online video service.

The woman asked for a video chat. The man agreed. She asked for sex talk. The man agreed.

The woman told the man to point the computer’s camera at his waist, unzip his pants and expose himself. The man agreed.

Instantly, the woman said the man was in deep trouble. She claimed to be working for an international anti-pedophile ring. The man would be arrested, she said. He would go to prison for 10 years.

She offered a way out: The man could pay a fine of 90,000 British pounds.

The man said he didn’t have that kind of money. The woman said that was too bad. The video of his antics would be uploaded to Facebook and YouTube, and shared with the man’s friends and family. His life would be ruined.

The man begged for mercy. The woman reduced the payment request and said she would accept $2,000, to be sent to a charity in Africa.

Alarmed, the man broke off contact without making payment arrangements and called 911, he said.

He showed the deputy the transcript of the video chat and the handle the “woman” had used. The deputy photographed the transcript and kept a copy, took the man’s statement and filed a report for information purposes.

March 7: The Bates College student just wanted to park his car, but the group of men were standing in the road, blocking the space.

The dispatch call reported intimidation with a weapon. Two Tacoma officers drove to a soup kitchen in the 700 block of South 14th Street, not far from the downtown Bates branch.

The officers spoke to a security guard who was detaining a man, 20, who reportedly had brandished a stun gun.

A second guard showed up with a 26-year-old man who explained he was trying to park his car and go to class. A cluster of men were standing in the space. They moved as he parked, but they were unhappy.

The 20-year-old shouted at the older man that he couldn’t park there. The older man said, “Shut up,” and started walking to his class.

The exchange led to more beefing. The 20-year-old said he was from “Cali,” and didn’t take that kind of stuff. He reached toward his waistband, threatened to shoot, pulled out the stun gun and triggered it.

The older man said he ran into the building, but the 20-year-old followed and threatened to damage the man’s car and tires. The man said he would move his car. The 20-year-old brandished the stun gun again.

The older man ran into a classroom and told fellow students what was happening. The group came out, and the man with stun gun backed off.

Officers spoke to the 20-year-old. He said the older man tried to run him down with the car. He said he pulled a knife to protect himself.

A knife or a stun gun?

A knife, the man said.

Did he have the knife on him?

No, the man said. He didn’t know where it was.

The security guards said they hadn’t seen a stun gun. A witness from the classroom said he had heard the commotion and stepped outside to see what was going on.

He saw the two men, he said, and he saw the younger man holding the stun gun. He saw it spark and heard it crackle.

Officers told the 20-year-old he was under arrest and booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of intimidation with a weapon.

March 8: The woman didn’t like the way her neighbor kept smoking in the common area of the apartment complex. That led to an argument, which led to a 911 call.

A sheriff’s deputy drove to the 2400 block of 96th Street South and spoke to a woman who said she’d been threatened.

The woman said the older neighbor next door had yelled at her about smoking in the common area. The neighbor had posted a “no smoking” sign for emphasis.

The younger woman knocked on the neighbor’s door. She said the older woman answered while holding a kitchen knife, waved it around and said, “Stop threatening me.”

The younger woman said she was afraid, though the neighbor didn’t try to stab her.

The deputy spoke to the neighbor, 46, who said the younger woman came home earlier, saw the “no smoking” sign and got mad.

She banged on the door, the older woman said, and shouted insults. She answered the door with the knife to protect herself, she said, but made no threats. The younger woman ran back to her own apartment.

The older woman said the smoke aggravated her health problems. She started crying loudly, saying she had mental health issues.

The deputy took a report for information, but no one was arrested.

This story was originally published March 11, 2017 at 2:06 AM with the headline "Police beat: Racy video chat, a parking space fight and a quarrel over smoking."