Tag: bellingham
By Caleb Hutton
See below for update.
An Amtrak train struck a suicidal man Sunday morning, March 17, on the railroad tracks north of Boulevard Park.
Here’s the report from the Bellingham police log:
Reported: Mar 17 2013 10:12AM
Location: 100 BLK BOULEVARD ST
Offense: SUICIDE – Attempt/Threat
Case #: 13B09781Officers responded to a report of an attempted suicide at the above location. An individual intentionally went onto the railroad tracks as a train was approaching, was struck and knocked to the side. The individual was subsequently transported to the hospital by medics for further treatment of a head injury.
Nobody aboard the train was hurt. Passengers were bused to Vancouver, B.C., according to Q13.
Metro Networks, a news wire service affiliated with KGMI, reported the man remained in serious condition as of Monday morning.
I’ve got a call out to police to see how the man’s doing.
Update at 2 p.m.
Man struck by Amtrak train in #Bellingham not likely to survive. Police say he smiled, waved before leaning head into oncoming train.
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) March 18, 2013
By Caleb Hutton
No need to be alarmed if you hear gunfire and bangs Friday afternoon, March 15, at the old Georgia-Pacific site.
Head’s up: #Bellingham police training w/simulated ammo from 3 to 10 p.m. at Georgia-Pacific site. Cornwall to close past E. Maple Street.
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) March 15, 2013
Here’s the official notice from Bellingham police, sent to local media at 9:30 a.m.
By Caleb Hutton
BELLINGHAM — A Bellingham teenager must serve seven months in jail for whacking a stranger in the head with a pipe in a October.
Nickolas Dakota Cooper, who just turned 18, pleaded guilty Thursday, Feb. 28, in Whatcom County Superior Court to attacking another teenage boy a few months ago.
Cooper and a friend approached the 17-year-old boy on Maplewood Avenue and started harassing him on Oct. 30, 2012. The boy told them they were acting stupid. He kept walking.
Just as the boy reached his front yard, Cooper rushed at him and hit him — with what appeared to be a metal pipe — in the left side of the head and his left shoulder, according to charging documents. It left a bump on his head the size of a walnut, and he could barely move his arm, but the boy declined medical aid.
A day later one of the victim’s friends searched Facebook for some people rumored to “jump” other kids, according to the charges. He found photos of Cooper, and the victim was certain that was the guy.
He pleaded guilty Thursday, as an adult. He has to serve seven months for felony assault.
Cooper has many past convictions for serious crimes. For example, he stabbed a boy in an attack that involved a knife and screwdriver in June 2011. The boy had a punctured lung and a cut liver, but survived.
By Caleb Hutton
See below for updates.
Police were looking for a man who came out of some bushes and grabbed a Western Washington University student by the wrist Thursday night, Feb. 28, on North Garden Street.
A Western female student reported that she was walking near the intersection of N. Garden and Beech streets near campus at 9:20 p.m. tonight when a man exited from some bushes, approached her and grabbed her wrist. She struck him in the face and he fled southbound on N. Garden, away from campus and toward downtown. The man is described as being a white male, 5 feet 8 inches tall with an average build, in his early 20s, and wearing dark sweat pants and a long sleeved grey shirt. Police are searching the area. Call 911 if you have any information.
Within the hour, WWU sent out an emergency alert and tweeted what information was available.
#WesternAlert: A woman said a man grabbed her at 9:20 tonight near N. Garden and Beech. She struck him and he fled. Police are searching.
— Western Washington U (@WWU) March 1, 2013
I’ve got a call out to the police spokesman. In the meantime — judging by a list of jail bookings since last night — it doesn’t appear the suspect was caught.
Update at 11 a.m. It’s worth noting: About a week ago, a similar incident was reported near Fairhaven College. It doesn’t appear that the height of the suspects in both incidents match up, but some other details are consistent.
Here’s the alert sent out Friday, Feb. 22:
A Western female student walking from Fairhaven College Commons through the courtyard and toward the 12A parking lot reported that a man approached her at about 6:30 p.m. tonight and asked directions. He then grabbed her arm and attempted to pull her into nearby woods. The woman broke free and the man fled. He is described as a college-aged white man, 6 feet 2 inches tall, slender build and wearing a baggy hoodie and jeans. The woman did not report the assault to police until several hours later, after 9:30 p.m. Police are searching the area. If you have any information please call police at 911.
This might be a good time to point out that if you want emergency alerts from the university, click here and fill out the form.
Update at 11:30 a.m. Randy Stegmeier, chief of WWU police, said the difference in the suspect descriptions — especially the big difference in height — makes it unlikely that the two cases are connected, despite the similar circumstances.
“But you never know,” Stegmeier said. “(Different) victims can have different views.”
The latest suspect was in his late teens or early 20s. He may have said something to the woman when he grabbed her, but she didn’t hear clearly. And she didn’t seem to get a very good look at him, according to police. It wasn’t clear if he had a bloody nose or any other obvious injuries from getting hit in the face, but apparently, Stegmeier said, she thwacked him pretty hard.
“So good for her,” the police chief said.
At the time of this post, nobody has been arrested in either case.
Stegmeier said he plans to send out an advisory reminding students about WWU’s Greencoat escorts and other ways to safe when walking near campus at night.
Update at 2:45 p.m. Stegmeier just released this message. Here are the last two paragraphs:
No suspects have been identified and it is unknown if these two incidents are related. Police are following leads and asking for anyone with information about either incident or having seen suspicious persons on or around the Western campus to call the University Police Department at (360) 650-3555 or Detective
Renick with the Bellingham Police Department at (360) 778-8754 about the N. Garden incident.For anyone walking during the hours of darkness; try to walk with others, stay in well-lighted and well-traveled areas; always be aware of your surroundings and anyone in the area; keep your cellphone handy; if you are on campus, be aware of the locations of the emergency “blue phones” and if you must walk alone, call University Police for a safety escort from our Public Safety Assistants.
By Caleb Hutton
A Bellingham man suspected of having a pound of methamphetamine was booked into jail Thursday afternoon Feb. 26.
Joseph Lee Garcia, 33, was the wanted man in a SWAT operation Wednesday morning in the 4500 block of Meridian Street. Deputies, with help from federal agents, were searching for Garcia at his business, Garcia Motors, said Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo.
He wasn’t there. But the next day law enforcement caught up with him in the 2200 block of Xenia Street. Garcia was booked into Whatcom County Jail on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver.
During an investigation that lasted several months, Elfo said, investigators found a pound of meth at a location Garcia owned or rented. The sheriff declined to go into further detail because the investigation is ongoing.
A pound of meth has a street value of about $12,000.
Garcia, considered by the sheriff’s office to be a member of the East Side Surenos gang, has past convictions for drug crimes.
By Caleb Hutton
Bellingham police want to warn longboarders they’re breaking the law by speedily riding down the residential streets of Alabama Hill.
Police spokesman Mark Young says on some days, more than 20 skateboarders gather at the top of Illinois Lane, near the intersection with Crestline Drive, then coast to the bottom of the hill, barreling through stop signs and causing “all sorts of traffic problems.”
So officers will be doing extra patrols in the area.
The skateboarders are breaking city laws and eventually, Young said, they might break one-too-many laws of physics and wind up in a fatal crash.
“It never ends well for the skateboarder,” Young said.
Riding a skateboard down the middle of the street in Bellingham can lead to an $87 ticket. That said, it’s legal for people to skateboard on the sidewalk in residential areas, so long as they’re not causing problems.
Here’s the relevant city law.
11.15.020 – USE OF COASTERS, ROLLER SKATES, ROLLERBLADES AND SIMILAR DEVICES RESTRICTED
A. No person upon roller skates, rollerblades, or riding in or by means of any coaster, skateboard, toy vehicles, or similar device, shall go upon any roadway except while crossing a street on a crosswalk; and when so crossing, such person shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to pedestrians.
B. Any person using such a device shall exercise due care and caution to avoid hindering, delaying, or endangering pedestrians using ways normally open to pedestrian traffic.
By Caleb Hutton
The victim of a bizarre Bellingham stalking case asked for some leniency in the sentencing of her ex-boyfriend Thursday, Feb. 21.
BELLINGHAM – A Bellingham accountant pleaded guilty Thursday, Feb. 21, to stalking his ex-girlfriend by gluing her home’s doors shut, turning off the gas, cutting her phone and cable lines, and dumping paint remover all over her car.
…
One of her car tires got flattened with a nail in June 2011, and she found several puncture marks.
The woman called the cops later that month, naming (recent ex-boyfriend Charles Lysander Storrs IV) as a suspect, after she found someone had put a bumper sticker on her car and glued the doorknob of her house shut with super glue.
Eventually, Storrs was ordered to serve 20 days of jail alternatives and 80 days of community service for stalking, a gross misdemeanor.
I called the victim, a 57-year-old Bellingham woman, Friday morning and asked her if she thought that was fair.
She does.
Reiterating what she said in court, she said she wanted Storrs convicted of stalking, and wanted him to know she was serious, but didn’t feel compelled to ask for a huge jail sentence.
Also of note:
- They dated for about three years.
- It was a PETA sticker stuck to the bumper of her car. She works as a vet tech, so Storrs might have meant it as some kind of personal comment.
- She has turned in restitution paperwork to cover the $3,000 bill she had to pay when Storrs dumped paint remover all over her car. That act was caught on camera and clearly showed the suspect’s gait, clothes and face. She expects to get the money back.
- Part of the sentence includes a no-contact order.
BELLINGHAM — A felony assault suspect remains at large Tuesday, Feb. 19, a day after injuring a Bellingham woman by punching her in the face repeatedly.
Officers believe at 1:35 a.m. Monday, the man was visiting a 52-year-old woman in the 1700 block of Texas Street when they got into an argument.
She took several blows to the face before the man fled the scene, said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young. She needed immediate medical treatment.
Police have probable cause to arrest the man for domestic violence assault in the second degree — a charge often reserved for assaults that cause serious injuries. Young said the detective hasn’t asked for public assistance in tracking down the suspect, so his name hasn’t been released.
By Caleb Hutton
An overheating light fixture above a racquetball court likely led to the evacuation of the Bellingham YMCA building Wednesday morning, Jan. 23.
A few dozen people — children, swimmers, staff and others — were asked to leave the building after a report of smoke in a men’s locker room at 11:43 a.m.
“This had been a smell staff had been chasing and couldn’t find for some time,” said Andy Day, the firefighter in charge at the scene. “So they gave us a holler.”
Photo by Colin Diltz
The smell was similar to wood burning, so that made firefighters think it might be more serious. One block of North State Street was closed to traffic while firefighters investigated.
There was no fire, only faint smoke. It appeared the smell had wafted up a floor or two from the racquetball court downstairs, Day said. People were allowed back into the building about 45 minutes after the initial 911 call.
Here’s the Twitter feed from @bhamcrime:
#policescanner: Smoke in the lobby of YMCA on N State Street. Fire engines en route. #Bellingham
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) January 23, 2013
Smoke’s on the third floor. Main lobby not evacuated yet. Firefighters just ran upstairs. #Bellingham twitter.com/bhamcrime/stat…
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) January 23, 2013
.@edmunds6677 Everyone left upper floors. People were lingering in main floor lobby. And now being evacuated.
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) January 23, 2013
YMCA evacuated. Smoke reported in men’s locker room. #bellingham twitter.com/bhamcrime/stat…
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) January 23, 2013
One block if N State blocked off as firefighters investigate. Building still evacuated. #Bellingham twitter.com/bhamcrime/stat…
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) January 23, 2013
@bhamcrime People allowed back in YMCA in just a moment.
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) January 23, 2013
Likely culprit of smoke in #Bellingham YMCA building: Overheating light fixture above racquetball court on first floor, firefighter says.
— Bellingham Crime (@bhamcrime) January 23, 2013
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