Blotter: Warehouse employee helps nab gas guzzler

Theft

The actions of an operator of a warehouse in the 7000 block of South 190th Street helped Kent Police arrest a man for investigation of third-degree theft in connection with the stealing of gas from trucks.

The warehouse employee showed up for work Aug. 12 and discovered a plastic gas can with a hose hanging from the opening of the can near a company truck in the parking lot. When the employee checked a video-surveillance tape from earlier in the day, he saw a man walk from his yellow commercial truck to a warehouse truck, according to the police report.

Later that morning, the employee saw the same yellow truck on a street near the warehouse. The employee jumped in a vehicle and followed the yellow truck to a retail store in Tukwila and called 911.

When Tukwila Police arrived at the store, they saw the man with the yellow truck pouring gas into his truck from a gas can.

Kent Police also showed up at the Tukwila store and arrested the man for investigation of theft for stealing gas from trucks at the Kent warehouse. The gas was worth about $40.

Disorderly conduct

Police arrested two men for investigation of disorderly conduct after a fight broke out among five men at about 2 a.m. Aug. 12 at a bar in the 24400 block of Russell Road South.

One of the men had called 911 to report an assault. But officers determined by talking to the two men that the men had made negative comments to three other men in regard to their homosexual lifestyle, according to the police report.

The officers determined those comments by the two men started the reported assault. The two men were banned from the bar for life. Police also arrested one of the men for investigation of possession of a dangerous weapon for carrying a spring-blade knife.

Assault

Three teenage boys were reportedly assaulted by as many as six other teen males Aug. 11 while walking through a parking lot of an apartment complex in the 12000 block of Southeast 277th Place.

The three boys were walking toward one of the boys’ grandmother’s house when five or six males in their late teens attacked them, according to the police report.

The five or six teens asked the three teens for a cigarette. The three teens told them they did not have any cigarettes. The five or six teens then asked one of the boys about the black handkerchief on his head and said that disrespected them because they claimed to be members of the “Bloods” gang.

The teen took off the handkerchief and two males reportedly grabbed him and punched him as many as eight times in the head and caused his nose to bleed. The two friends of the teen with the handkerchief also were punched before the five or six males ran from the scene before officers arrived.

Several officers searched the neighborhood for the assailants but did not find anyone. Police closed the case because of a lack of leads.

Drugs

A 911 call of a possible drug overdose led to the arrest of man in his early 20s for investigation of marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia at about 11:15 a.m. Aug. 11 near 64th Avenue South and West James Street.

A woman called police to report that her boyfriend had taken as many as three Ecstasy pills before walking away from an apartment in the 1200 block of West Smith Street, according to the police report.

Officers found the man walking near West James Street. The man told officers he took the pills to calm himself after an argument with his girlfriend. The man also reportedly told police he had about 10 grams of marijuana in the pocket of his shorts.

Officers searched the man and discovered a plastic bag with a leafy substance. They also found an electronic scale in the man’s pockets. Police tested the leafy substance and determined the plastic bag contained 16 grams of marijuana.