When a Junction man called Dell for some help with his computer, he got unexpected personal service from a Seattle Police officer who arrived at his door. The Dell help desk employee recognized the serial number as a stolen item and had alerted authorities. The man said that he had accepted the computer as partial payment for a debt owed by a friend of his son. The officer confiscated the computer (it was returned to the original owner), and the man may face charges for possession of stolen property.

Claiming to be a battered woman escaping a bad relationship, a woman ingratiated herself into a local household for several weeks last fall. Recently, the Good Samaritan who took the woman in discovered 13 unauthorized charges worth nearly $3,000 on a credit card.

After announcing that he wanted to die, a patient at a psychiatric hospital set his shirt on fire. Although he ripped it off and fell to the ground, the man suffered burns on his upper chest. His fingertips were black. He told officers that he had "a lot of pain" on his chest and hands. He was transported to a hospital for medical treatment and for an involuntary psychiatric commitment.

When a man chased after two car prowlers on 16th SW, he was punched in the face several times and then grabbed in a choke hold by a man who drove by and picked up the suspects. The victim got the license plate of the driver's car, but in a later interview the man said he had stopped only because he saw his friend in a fight by the road and he wanted to help. He claimed to not know that his friends had been involved in a car prowl.

Concerned for her safety, a man called 911 to report that he had seen an apparently underage female drinking alcohol provided by older men who had picked her up on the street. A computer check of a license plate led to a Gatewood-area home, where officers could see a young woman playing pool with two men. A breathalyzer test showed that she had ingested 6 times the standard alcohol level for minors and 1.5 times the legal limit for adult drivers. She claimed to have been drinking hard alcohol since she was 13 and, according to officers, did not seem concerned about her safety. There was no proof that the men had supplied her with liquor, but they were warned against such future behavior. The young woman was booked into King County Jail for investigation of liquor-law violations.

Upset over their break-up, a woman showed up at her former boyfriend's home with razor cuts on her arms and said she planned to jump off the West Seattle Bridge. When he called 911 she fled and has not been seen since.

Driving down Delridge, an officer saw a man shove a woman twice and then grab her. An investigation showed that the two are a couple and that the man was upset over a text message the woman received from an old boyfriend (who the man then threatened to kill). In the past he has threatened to burn down the other man's house and has smashed his girlfriend's car window with a baseball bat. The suspect was arrested and booked into King County Jail for investigation of domestic violence assault.

Burglaries by block: 2700 44th SW, 8400 41st SW, 4300 SW Webster, 1400 Palm SW, 1100 Alki Ave. SW, 7900 10th SW, 500 S. Trenton