Police beat: A lost boot, a car prowler and stolen stuff sold online

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

March 24: The teen wanted the boot he lost while running from deputies, and he kicked so much after his arrest that he got his way.

The dispatch call reported a fight between a man and a woman walking on railroad tracks near a Pierce County library branch in the 9200 block of 224th Street East.

A deputy drove to the spot, found nothing, and decided to take a walk along the tracks. Eventually, he noticed a homeless encampment by the tree line and heard two voices, one high and one low. Approaching a shelter, the deputy called out and identified himself.

Two men appeared, both young. One was slower to come out than the other, and he said he was putting on his boots.

Both denied arguing or fighting. The deputy asked for names and birth dates. While he waited for answers from records checks, two more deputies arrived.

The records said both men were juveniles. One was listed as a missing person. The other — a 17-year-old, the kid with the boots — had an active arrest warrant.

The deputy told the kid he was under arrest. The kid spun and ran. A chase followed. The deputy heard his colleague’s voice in the trees, first saying he had drawn his gun, then telling the kid to stop kicking.

It took two deputies to contain the kid, who was missing a boot; it fell off his foot during the chase. Deputies tried to put him in the patrol car. He said he wasn’t going anywhere until they found his boot.

One deputy said that was impossible — there was no way to locate it. The kid squirmed on the ground, dragged his legs under the patrol car and locked his knees. Deputies pulled him out.

The kid said he’d kick the windows out of the car if deputies didn’t find his boot. Deputies wrapped his legs in restraints. Placed in the car, the kid started slamming his head against the window.

The deputy stopped the car and told the kid to stop. The kid said he would damage the car and himself unless cops found his boot. A deputy, given directions by the kid, finally found the footwear in the woods and came back with it.

Told he was under arrest for third-degree assault and resisting arrest, as well as his active warrant, the kid got angry all over again. As he was booked into Remann Hall, he told staffers he’d deliberately kicked a pursuing deputy in the knees, but aimed for the face.

March 24: The prowler sat in the passenger seat of an orange 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, intent on the stereo.

The car didn’t belong to him. Neither did the stereo. The manager of the used car lot watched him on security video and called police.

When two Tacoma officers rolled up to the lot in the 7000 block of South Tacoma Way, the man didn’t run. Police knew him; he was 29, with a prior history that included a December arrest at the same location.

The man said he used a screwdriver to break the Camaro’s passenger window. He said he meant to remove the stereo and sell it. He said he owed money to other people.

Officers found the man’s backpack in the back seat of the Camaro. It included a set of burglary tools. Officers booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of vehicle prowling, as well as an active arrest warrant linked to his prior actions at the same car lot.

March 22: A Bellevue-based website, OfferUp.com, is supposed to be a safer, slicker, less creepy alternative to Craigslist — but it didn’t prevent the Tacoma woman from selling stolen stuff.

The victim was a 35-year-old mother. Someone had taken her child’s car seat and stroller a few days earlier. Surfing the OfferUp website, the mother spotted the car seat for sale. She knew it was hers because of the serial number, which she had saved.

The mother arranged a meetup at a shopping center in the 1900 block of South Union Avenue and stood at a storefront. She saw a woman drive into the parking lot, spotted the red car seat inside the vehicle and called police.

Officers drove to the shopping center and spoke to the mother, who explained the situation, but the woman was gone. The mother suspected she had driven away because the officers scared her.

As officers searched the lot, the mother called them and said she’d just gotten a text message from the seller, who promised to return to the lot shortly. Officers found a discreet spot in the lot and waited.

They watched as two women walked to the storefront. One carried a red car seat. As she arrived to meet the mother, the officers closed in.

The woman with the car seat was 32. Officers told her what was going on. The woman said she bought the car seat yesterday from a friend for $20, decided she didn’t need it, and sold it online today for $40.

Officers showed the car seat to the mother, who matched it to the serial number she saved. She also mentioned the gray stroller that had been taken from her car.

Officers asked the woman for permission to search her vehicle. She granted it. In the trunk they found a gray stroller.

The woman said it didn’t belong to her. The mother identified it as the stolen stroller. Officers cuffed the woman and told her she was under arrest.

On the way to the Pierce County Jail, the woman said she didn’t do the right thing because it never paid off. She said she was only arrested because she was oppressed and because of her race. She said the car seat and the stroller didn’t belong to the mother.

A records check revealed the woman had active arrest warrants out of Puyallup for vehicle prowling and third-degree theft. Officers booked her into the Pierce County Jail on those warrants and suspicion of possessing stolen property.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 9:43 AM with the headline "Police beat: A lost boot, a car prowler and stolen stuff sold online."