When the administrative assistant to the SeaTac Police Department and police Capt. Annette Louie arrived for work at city hall the morning of March 15, they did their part toward keeping the city clean while helping out a fellow citizen.

They spotted an empty recyclable canvas grocery bag in the parking lot and set it by the front door for its rightful owner to pick up.
'We were being good little stewards," Capt. Louie said.

By the time they left the police precinct station, located in back of city hall, the bag had not been claimed.

But in the wee hours of the next morning, a man called police from inside the Motel 6 on International Boulevard and South 160th Street threatening to blow up the motel and police precincts in SeaTac.

Police evacuated the motel and arrested the man without incident when he stepped out of his room. No bombs were found at the motel.

Meanwhile, police swept the area around the precinct, spotted a "suspicious" bag next to city hall's front door and summoned the bomb squad.

A bomb robot disabled the bag with a water cannon.

It wasn't until the assistant and Capt. Louie arrived again for work later in the morning that the mystery of how the bag got placed was revealed.

"It was an innocent gesture," Louie noted. "The time coincidence was unfortunate."