As we head into rainier and cooler weather it seems like we are getting a lot of traffic crashes, and we also had a number of very serious crimes occur this week.

How a mole hill becomes a mountain

Last Saturday, a driver made some bad decisions that turned a minor hit-and-run incident into something quite a bit worse.

A driver accidentally tapped another vehicle on Sylvan Way, barely leaving a paint transfer. The driver later reported he was “scared” and decided to drive away. The person in the car that was “tapped” had other ideas and basically started a high-speed pursuit in the area of View Crest Village in EastBremerton.

You can see where this story is heading.

The tapping driver became really scared and started driving really fast through a residential neighborhood. He came down the hill on Spruce Avenue, striking a speed bump. This caused him to do a“Dukes of Hazzard” and lose control, colliding with some other parked cars and totaling his own vehicle.

At this point, the car was no longer drivable, so he ran on foot to his house. He was sitting on the back porch discussing the collision when he was contacted by officers. He was taken to the hospital for evaluation, since airbags had gone off.

Fortunately, no bystanders were hurt. The man will be charged with two counts of hit and run.

Losing the silence game

The same night, a Nissan SUV, described by a witness as swerving with “classic drunk driver” behavior,turned off 11th Street and collided with a parked car, finally bouncing off a tree and deploying the airbags, which had blood on them. The driver (of course) fled the scene. Within about 10 minutes decided to call 911 to “report his car stolen.”

Officer Jen Corn contacted him, and he insisted he had been home all night and somebody took his car.Officer Corn observed he had a bleeding lip, his pants and shoes were wet and, by the way, he was very intoxicated.

As she asked more questions, he decided he didn’t want to talk any more. His quiet mood lasted only a short time, as he went on to begin explaining the collision to Officer Corn, who was a very good listener and was able to get his unsolicited statement into her investigation report.

Curse you, gravity

Also on a busy Saturday, officers checked on a very intoxicated man who had been (wisely) refused service at a downtown Bremerton restaurant.

The man started to walk away, but then ran up a set of stairs between buildings. We were dispatched after he apparently went onto the roof of the business, yelling and threatening people passing by below.

Officers did not immediately locate the man, even though they went to the trouble of going to the tops of several downtown parking garages to get a better view.

A short time later, a man called stating he had been “assaulted” at that same restaurant and now had a broken leg.

He was contacted at his residence nearby. He had a swollen ankle and was being checked by the fire department. When asked what happened, he said he was afraid he was going to be beat up by the restaurant staff after being told to leave, so he fled from the area up the stairs, and then jumped down into the alley. He explained it was “the fastest way out of there.”

When asked why he would run upstairs into a fenced-in area instead of using, oh, I don’t know, the street, he told officers, “I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

Corporal Steven Polonsky noted, “It appears there are three ‘suspects’ involved in this assault:intoxication, stupidity and gravity.”

Really?!?

This week from the “Really?!?” file comes this case: A man entered a store on Werner Road and proceeded to steal the donation jar for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital from the counter.

He left the store on foot and was promptly located and detained by Officer Bill Prouse. The suspect admitted to the crime, and the jar was recovered by the overpass on Loxie Eagans Blvd.

The money, all $27.35 of it, was in the suspect’s pocket. The funds and jar were returned to the store and the man ended up in the Kitsap County Jail.

Two assaults and a robbery

Three press releases were sent out last week on serious and dangerous offenders. What is notable about each of them is the discretion and good judgment we continue to see from officers.

A man who had committed a serious assault on Sixth Street was found with a loaded handgun, and was safely taken into custody.

A very dangerous suspect who committed felony assault the next day was tracked for more than an hour by a K-9 team.

A robbery on Thursday resulted in a short pursuit. We do allow pursuits when the suspect has committed a violent felony, which was the case on Thursday. We continue to investigate these incidents.

— Bremerton Police Chief Steven Strachan