Police Beat: Three pounds of grapes, domestic horror, and a failed u-turn

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

Oct. 7: She gobbled grapes like a Roman empress, but they didn’t belong to her.

The dispatch call reported trouble at a natural foods market and deli. Tacoma officers drove to the 2900 block of South 38th Street and found a woman, 49, accompanied by a loss prevention officer.

The loss prevention officer said the woman entered the store, shopped for items, and stopped in the produce aisle by the grapes. She sampled some, then more and more, consuming approximately three pounds of them.

The woman took her shopping cart to the cash register, paid for her other items and started to leave. The loss prevention officer approached her as she left the store, and told her she had to pay for the grapes.

The woman kept walking. The loss prevention officer snagged her shopping cart. The woman shoved the cart at the officer, who pushed it out of the way and pinned the woman against the wall.

The woman agreed to go back into the store. She went the counter and tried to pay for the grapes as police were called.

Officers spoke to the woman. She admitted eating the grapes and leaving. She admitted shoving the cart into the loss prevention officer. She was booked into the Pierce County Jail and subsequently charged with third-degree theft and third-degree assault.

Oct. 9: The domestic violence call played out like a horror film. Two sheriff’s deputies responding to a reported dispute drove to an address in the 10500 block of Eighth Avenue South in the Parkland area.

They spoke to a woman, 43, who cried and said she’d been assaulted and wanted her partner arrested. He had a knife, she said. He’d threatened her with it. She pointed to the back bedroom.

One deputy drew his gun and shouted “Police.”

A naked man, 33, emerged. He carried a knife in his right hand. Blood leaked from his neck. It looked as though he’d cut his throat.

Deputies told him to drop the knife. He dropped it, walked forward and collapsed. The deputies closed in and cuffed him. They called for medical aid. The deputies used direct pressure and a towel on the wound, holding it to staunch the bleeding.

“Let me die,” the man said over and over. The deputies said they weren’t going to do that.

An emergency medical team arrived and took over the treatment, preparing the man for a trip to the hospital.

Meanwhile, the deputies spoke to the woman. She said her husband came home from work in a bad mood, complaining about chores, money, and the woman’s son spending too much time playing video games.

The man had started drinking after that — always a bad sign, the woman said. When he drank, he got mean. She had gone to the bedroom to avoid him, but he came in with the knife, jumped on top of her, slapped her in the face and said, “You’re lucky I haven’t killed you yet.”

The woman said she feared he would stab her. She said he threatened to kill her and her son. She said the couple had a history of domestic violence. The man had been arrested before.

Deputies spoke to the son. He said the man always got aggressive when drinking, but today was worse. The man yelled that he paid for everything in the house. He unplugged the refrigerator and threw out all the food, the son said. He grabbed the knife and threatened to kill the woman and the son.

Deputies decided they had probable cause to arrest the man for second-degree assault and malicious harassment, but he needed medical treatment first. He was taken to Tacoma General Hospital. Medical personnel said he’d need a week or more to recover.

Oct. 11: The jam on the woman’s car stereo was too good. Entranced by the rhythm, she drove into a ditch.

A sheriff’s deputy dispatched to the 28800 block of Eighth Avenue East in southeast Pierce County spotted a black Kia Forte nose first in a ditch. It was about 9:40 p.m. The car was in gear, the motor still running.

The deputy looked at the passengers. The driver, a woman, stepped out of the car and almost fell. Standing up straight was a challenge. She smelled like liquor and slurred her words.

The deputy switched off the ignition and spoke to the woman.

Had she been driving?

“Yes.”

Who owned the car?

“I do.”

How did it wind up in the ditch?

The woman said she was driving home listening to a good jam on the radio and missed her turn. She decided to try a u-turn to make her way back, but swung too wide and rolled into the ditch.

The deputy asked for her license. She handed it over. He asked for her registration. She handed him receipts from a tire store.

She agreed to field sobriety tests. First came the one-legged stand. She tried five times, failed and fell.

Had she been drinking? A couple of beers earlier, she said.

The deputy called a tow truck for the Kia. He took the woman to a Washington State Patrol office, where she took a breath-alcohol test and blew readings of .19, more than twice the legal limit. He cited her for drunken driving. Another deputy drove her home.

This story was originally published October 13, 2018 at 4:12 PM.