Burien Police deputies arrested a juvenile male late Thursday night, Mar. 5, after responding to a reported vehicle theft in progress.
Deputies were dispatched after a reporting party said they were watching two males break into a vehicle. Within minutes of the call, deputies arrived and saw two males inside the vehicle using flashlights under the steering column, police said.
When the suspects noticed deputies, both fled the scene on foot after abandoning their tools and the vehicle, according to police.
Deputies were able to apprehend one suspect while a second suspect escaped.
Police later determined that both suspects were juveniles. The juvenile male who was arrested was transported and booked into the Juvenile Detention Center, according to the Burien Police Department.
Police did not release additional details about the suspects or the ongoing search for the second juvenile.
Was this the cause of the huge sheriff’s office presense in Old Burien, triangulating their siren’s back and forth throughout the neighborhoods?
I’ve worked as a news reporter for decades, including years covering crime on both coasts. Based on what I saw Friday, I suspect police were after these juveniles for more than attempted car theft.
Police sirens began to screaming after midnight Friday, and I jumped in my car to get a closer look at what was unfolding.
A helicopter was soon overhead, and it seemed to be circling low over the area roughly between 154th and 158th streets.
I found roughly a half-dozen patrol vehicles, their lights flashing, positioned at nearby intersections, including 8th Avenue SW and SW 156th Street as well as several intersections along Ambaum Boulevard between 152nd and 155th streets.
Several officers moved quickly on foot up Ambaum’s center lanes.
I asked one of them what was happening, and he told me authorities were searching for a male wearing a blue coat who’d tried to seal a car.
“If you see him, let us know,” the officer said.
The helicopter was still whirling above. Nearly every intersection in sight flashed blue and red. This didn’t add up.
“Wait, was this a car jacking?” I asked.
“No, no,” the officer said. “Not a car jacking. He tried to steal a car.”
During my years covering cops stories, I’ve never known police to deploy a chopper or so many patrol vehicles or set up such a tight perimeter over a mere attempted car theft.
I’d bet good money these juveniles — including the one police say was still at large — are wanted for violent felonies. Only on those occasions have I seen police unleash such an aggressive response.
I don’t think we’re getting the full story here.
— Tony Lystra
(It should be noted, I haven’t talked to King County Sheriff’s PIO, so I can’t confirm definitively that it was a police helicopter overhead. Still, on no other occasion have we heard a chopper circling the area.)