Living Trash/Capitol Hill/Mon July 28/3:20 am: As the city slept, Officer G. Davisson and his partner, Officer D. Whalen, were called to a disturbance at a location on Broadway. The call indicated that a male was taking garbage out of a dumpster and throwing it around the street. When the officers arrived, they observed the suspect, who was alongside another male, now picking up the garbage and returning it to the dumpster. The officers contacted the suspect and asked why he had made this terrible mess. "He said he was using the garbage in some way to show his friend, later identified as the victim, reasons for not committing suicide. The suspect said the victim had made comments about committing suicide and he wanted to make him realize reasons to stay alive by throwing the garbage out of the dumpster," reports Officer G. Davisson.
After interviewing the suspect, the officer interviewed the victim. Officer G. Davisson writes: "He said he had been drinking and was feeling depressed.... He said he told his friends he was going to the I-5 bridge and was going to jump off it and kill himself. He told them he would see them in heaven. He said the suspect was trying to make him change his mind. The victim said he was fine now and did not want medical treatment."
The extraordinary thing is that throughout the rest of this report, both officers never ask the suspect (or the victim) how throwing garbage out of a dumpster would "in some way" show the suicidal person the importance of life and help him "realize reasons to stay alive." Why aren't the officers at all fascinated by the success of this peculiar approach? How I wish cops were a little more inquisitive.
The World Is but a Stage/West Seattle/Mon July 28/7:37 am: Officer Novisedlak reports: "I responded to calls of an elderly man found wandering the streets this morning. I contacted two adult females who were standing on the 3000 block of 63rd Ave SW with the elderly man. They said that they found him this morning wearing only a robe and a sock. The elderly man said that he ran from his house this morning after being confronted by a known male who had a gun. He said that the incident started last night. He could not provide the male's name but said the gunman was 82 years old and was there at the apartment assisting him in writing a play about alternative lifestyles. The elderly man said that the male was from New York and was sent to work with him by the director Woody Allen. The elderly man pointed out his apartment, and said he would not return until police verified that the [male/playwright/New Yorker/octogenarian/gunman] was gone. The apartment was locked and the elderly man did not have the keys to it. I contacted the on-site manager, who accessed the apartment with a spare key. Inside, we found no evidence of foul play." The pun was not intended.
