Community Police & Fire

Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Purse-snatcher drags 87-year-old woman

Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police and Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One.

A man snatched a purse away from an 87-year-old woman in a hardware store parking lot on Oct. 12, then dragged her at least 15 feet when she refused to let go.

The victim sustained cuts and bruises on her extremities and appeared to be shaken up and disoriented, the responding officer said. The encounter was so violent that she believed she had been dragged by a car, though other witnesses said no vehicle was involved.

Witnesses reported seeing the man walk up to the woman nonchalantly in the parking lot on Borgen Boulevard. Then he grabbed her purse and tried to run.

By instinct, the woman told officers, she held onto the purse and tried to wrench it back. The suspect dragged the woman for 15 to 20 feet before she let go. He got in a waiting vehicle and left.

The elderly victim said she had $300 cash in the purse as well as personal information like her address. She asked officers to escort her home after she was treated at the hospital, which they did.

Officers later learned that another person in the fleeing vehicle shoplifted from the store. The vehicle, described only as a white SUV, had out-of-state plates. Witnesses could provide only vague descriptions of the suspects, but officers obtained surveillance footage from the store.

Woman suspected of vandalizing cemetery

Passersby called officers to Haven of Rest Cemetery on Highway 16 at about 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 15 after seeing a man and woman fighting.

Officer found a motorcycle lying on its side near the cemetery and a man fending off a woman who “appeared to be smacking him.” The woman claimed they had been riding together on the motorcycle — with her dog, which the officer found unlikely — and that the man had a gun and was threatening to kill her.

The man had a more plausible story. He said he had been passing by on Highway 16 and stopped to put on warmer gloves. The woman, whom he didn’t know, came running out of the cemetery and demanded that he give her fentanyl. When he refused, she attacked him and pushed over his motorcycle. He declined to participate in criminal charges, saying the woman just needed to get help.

The officer then noticed a car parked between “two large tomb structures” at the cemetery. The car had “driven over gravestones and collided into a tree before coming to rest.” Trash was strewn about the cemetery, including on gravestones.

Inside the car, the officer found a Glock-style pistol with a magazine inserted as well as abundant drugs and paraphernalia.

Later that morning, the cemetery reported more vandalism — including broken stained glass windows and a destroyed outdoor light fixture. Video footage showed the woman walking around the cemetery but didn’t capture her doing any of the damage.

The 25-year-old Shelton woman passed out while officers were speaking with her. An ambulance took her to St. Anthony Hospital. A report on the incident was forwarded to prosecutors.

Woman who didn’t want to leave hospital assaults nurses

A 39-year-old Bremerton woman kicked and scratched nurses and other hospital employees when they attempted to discharge her from the hospital at around 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 19.

The woman, who officers determined was homeless, told hospital staff that she wanted to either remain in the hospital or go to jail. She ended up going to jail.

The report did not note why the woman was being treated at the hospital. But when nurses told her she was being discharged, she grabbed a cup of urine sitting nearby and threatened to throw it on them unless they allowed her to remain at the hospital.

The nurses told her she could stay if she put down the urine. She did; then they told her she actually had to go. When staff tried to escort her away, she kicked a male nurse in the crotch, threatened to stab people with a pen and dug her fingernails into another nurse’s hand.

Shoplifter says he can ‘take what he wanted’

Two men stole six bottles of vodka from a store on Point Fosdick Drive on Oct. 10, with one suspect telling an employee who tried to stop him that “he knew his rights and he could take what he wanted.”

The employee initially tried to block the exit door, but thought better of it after the suspect made that statement. The two male suspects left the store in a red Mazda sedan. Employees were able to offer only generic descriptions of the suspects.

Walking down the street with a stolen ax

An officer saw a man walking on Borgen Boulevard on Oct. 8, carrying a large tool box still in its packaging. He also carried an ax, hand tools and other apparently stolen merchandise.

The officer asked 911 dispatchers to check if any nearby hardware stores had reported a shoplifting incident. Meanwhile, he followed the suspect, who started acting nervous when he noticed the patrol car.

The officer tracked the man to a forested property, where he tried to hide in the underbrush. The officer asked him to step out. He did, though he was now covered in scratches from blackberry bushes. The officer secured the ax, a potential weapon.

The suspect eventually admitted to shoplifting the items, which were returned. The suspect told the officer he had open sores on his legs related to drug abuse. The officer encouraged him to seek treatment at nearby St. Anthony Hospital, but he later saw him hitchhiking on Highway 16.