These crimes were selected by my good friend Kimberly A. C. Wilson, who is a big-time crime reporter for the Seattle P-I.

The Old Friend/Central District/Fri July 28/9:45 am: A man was driving in the area of Martin Luther King Way and Graham St when he spotted an old friend standing on the side of the road. The man immediately pulled into a parking lot and reunited with his buddy. The old friend, who wore braids and was in his early 30s, asked the man for a ride up to 12th and South Jackson. The man agreed. The old friend jumped into the car and the two talked all the way up to 12th and Yesler, where the old friend asked the man to pull over. Once the car stopped, the old friend said, "You got to get up outta your shit," and pulled out a pistol. The man got out of his car, ran down to Second and Jackson, jumped onto a bus, and headed home, where he finally called the cops. When Officer Crook heard this story, he asked the man why he hadn't called the police immediately after the crime occurred. The man looked up at him and said, "I wanted to get home to my woman!"

The Savage/West Seattle/Fri July 28/9:07 pm: "Rodney King!" the black teen in baggy jeans screamed when Officer Anderson tried to pat him down for a weapon. Officer Anderson was investigating a report that four black juveniles were in a park restroom trying to light a fire. "[Are you] going to kick my ass?" asked the teen. "No," said Officer Anderson, "I'm not going to hurt you. Just cooperate!" Officer Anderson then pushed the teen onto his police car and into a "safe search position." But before the search was finished, the teen turned his head and said, "I did time at Green Hill for homicide. I'll kill you." Officer Anderson ignored the threat and forced the black teen back into the "safe search position." After he completed his search (the teen was unarmed), the officer told the teen to sit down on the curb. "I'm just a nigger [to you]," said the offended teen. "[You are] going to lynch me because I'm a nigger. Take off your gun and badge and we'll fight right now! Let's go. I'm a savage, I'll fucking kill you!" Officer Anderson did not take off his badge or gun.

The Bride/Downtown/Sat July 29/7:25 am: Early this morning, a bride and her bridesmaids checked into an expensive suite in the Sheraton. But once they settled down in the luxurious room, the bride began to argue with one of her bridesmaids. This argument soon became loud and nasty, and finally the bridesmaid couldn't take it anymore--she wanted out. Nothing in the world could make her bear another minute with the drunken bride. The police were called, but witness accounts differed. According to one bystander, the bride attacked the insolent bridesmaid and tried to kill her. According to another, two bridesmaids attacked the bride and tried to kill her. As the witnesses could not produce a clear account of events (some favored the bride, others favored the maids), Officer P. D. Nolting did not make an arrest.

Big Profits/Central District/Sun July 30/2:09 am: Late tonight, Officer DeJesus responded to an audible intrusion alarm from a building on Martin Luther King Way. Upon arrival, Officer DeJesus found a large hole in the east wall of the building. Officer DeJesus walked into the hole and found that someone had broken open a Pepsi soda machine, and rudely removed its change box. Officer DeJesus was unable to gather much evidence or determine how much money had been stolen from Pepsi Co., which, by the way, generated $8 billion in sales last year and recently posted an 18-percent increase in profits in the second quarter of this year. The chief executive officer of Pepsi Co., Craig Weatherup, attributed the strong second-quarter performance to "gains in our U.S. markets."