Local News

UPDATE 10:00 P.M.| Good Samaritan vessels helped evacuate 78 crew members from Arctic Storm Monday evening, while another 42 crew members are staying aboard to man the fishing boat, according to the Coast Guard. The evacuated crew members are being taken to Westport, Wash. by commercial fishing boats Northern Voyager, Golden Alaska, Sea Dawn and Excellence.

A tug boat is still en-route to tow the Arctic Storm vessel, which contains about 188,000 gallons of diesel fuel, to Aberdeen, the Coast Guard said. No pollution has been reported to be released into the ocean. The Coast Guard says it will continue to investigate the cause of the fire.

UPDATE 5:02 P.M.| The Coast Guard says the fire hasn’t injured anyone and is under control. The fishing boat crew was able to get the fire under control before Coast Guard teams arrived by using a chemical firefighting system, according to Coast Guard spokesman Nathan Littlejohn.

Littlejohn said it doesn’t look like the Arctic Storm is going to sink, but its 120-member crew will soon be transferred to a sister vessel. The Arctic Storm will be towed to Aberdeen.

The Arctic Storm is operated by Seattle-based Arctic Storm Management Group. The company’s website says its crews fish for Pacific Whiting off the coast of Washington and Oregon from the end of May through early June.

EARLIER POST

The Coast Guard is on its way to rescue about 120 people on a fishing boat burning 32 miles west of Grays Harbor.

Crew on the 314-foot Arctic Storm vessel reported an uncontrollable engine room fire at about 3:20 p.m., according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has sent out rescue teams in two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters from Air Station Astoria and three 47-foot motor lifeboats.

The Coast Guard has issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast to alert other boaters in the area of the Arctic Storm.

We’ll update this as more information becomes available.

The City of Seattle has filed notice that it intends to appeal a ruling by a federal judge who said a jury should hear a civil-rights lawsuit filed by a Greenwood man who was unarmed and suicidal when he was shot in the face by a Seattle police officer during a standoff in 2009.

Officers Eugene Schubeck and Don Leslie, the only two defendants left in the case, will ask the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the order by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones, who found evidence that the officers had used excessive force and violated the rights of Nathaniel Caylor when Schubeck shot him from an outdoor landing overlooking Caylor’s patio. The bullet shattered Caylor’s jaw and teeth.

Schubeck said he believed Caylor was going inside the apartment to harm his 20-month-old son. Caylor had locked himself in the apartment with the toddler the morning of May 22, 2009, and called relatives to say he was despondent and suicidal over the recent accidental death of his girlfriend, the child’s mother.

Several police officers responded and a tense standoff ensued. According to court documents, Schubeck announced his concern about the child’s safety and said he was going to shoot Caylor before the man had even come onto the patio. Leslie, the department’s designated Crisis Intervention Officer at the scene, told him, “Don’t miss,” according to sworn depositions in the case.

Caylor was high and abusive when he did appear, and Schubeck fired a single round without warning when he turned to go back inside, according to court documents. Caylor would later say he was going inside to stop the boy from climbing out of a high chair.

Jones concluded that, while Schubeck’s concern about the child’s safety was sincere, “a jury could find that no reasonable officer would have concluded that Mr. Caylor’s son or the officer faced a threat of imminent harm sufficient to justify the use of deadly force.”

The case is being defended by private attorneys. Kimberly Mills, a spokeswoman for Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, said the city has been billed about $250,000 so far for defense costs.

NBA player Terrence Williams speaks to his defense attorney Aaron Kiviat during his bail hearing in front of Judge Charles DeLaurenti II, who found probable cause to hold Williams on investigation of second-degree assault. (Marcus Yam/The Seattle Times)

A King County Superior Court judge this afternoon set bail at $25,000 for NBA basketball player Terrence Williams, the former Rainier Beach High School star who was arrested over the weekend for allegedly threatening a woman with a handgun.

Judge Charles DeLaurenti II found probable cause to hold Williams, 25, for investigation of second-degree assault. Prosecutors had sought $50,000 bail.

Williams, who plays for the Boston Celtics, appeared in court in handcuffs and a jail jumpsuit.

Williams was arrested Sunday in Kent for allegedly making threats with a gun to his son’s mother.

According to Kent police, Williams was in a downtown Kent parking lot shortly before 2 p.m. to pick up or drop off his 10-year-old son. The mother of the boy told police that during the custody exchange for the scheduled visit, she and Williams had argued and he brandished a firearm and made threats.

He then left the area, but was later located and taken into custody without incident, police said.

William, who played college basketball at Louisville, has played four seasons in the NBA, most recently with the Celtics. He averaged 4.6 points and 2.4 assists per game this season. He owns a home in Maple Valley.

Here’s a reminder that King County law enforcement agencies are deploying extra patrols to look for unbuckled drivers and passengers and drivers who are on their cellphones.

The extra patrols will be in effect beginning today through June 2.

Last year, during the same time period, Washington state law enforcement officers statewide issued 3,171 citations for seat belt violations and 1,059 for cellphone violations.

Auburn, Bellevue, Black Diamond, Burien, Covington, Federal Way, Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, Maple Valley, Mercer Island, Newcastle, Port of Seattle, Redmond, Renton, Sammamish, SeaTac, Seattle, Tukwila and Woodinville police departments are participating, as well as the Washington State Patrol.

In addition to King County, Pierce County cops from the Fircrest, Lakewood, Orting, Puyallup, Sumner and Tacoma police departments, as well as the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and State Patrol, are also participating in the enforcement effort.

Tacoma brothers Luis Arroyo, 17, Cristobal Arroyo, 15, pleaded guilty today to first-degree murder for killing a 15-year-old boy in their home last June.

Luis Arroyo was sentenced to to 26 ½ years in prison and Cristobal Arroyo was sentenced to 24 years.

“This was a brutal crime where justice required that the juvenile perpetrators be held accountable as adults,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said in a news release. ”The Defendants plead guilty to an adult-sized crime, Murder One, and received adult-sized sentences.”

The victim, Hector Hernandez-Valdez, met Luis Arroyo at the brothers’ home on June 1 and the two got into a fight, according to prosecutors. Cristobal Arroyo, hearing the struggle, armed himself with a shank and stabbed Hernandez-Valdez in the neck and back.

The brothers moved Hernandez-Valdez into a bathtub to “drain him,” according to prosecutors. Hernandez-Valdez was still alive and making noises so one of the brothers cut his throat, prosecutors said.

The boys’ mother told police she arrived home that afternoon to find a blue recycling bin in the living room of her home, along with towels bearing reddish-brown stains. Her sons claimed they were cleaning up chili, but she realized it was blood, prosecutors said.

The teens then told her a man attacked them and they were forced to kill him, but the defendant’s mother went upstairs and found the victim on a sheet, Lindquist said.

She drove to a Tacoma police substation to report the crime. Officers who went to the home found the victim’s body, wrapped in a blanket, in a recycling bin in the alley.

An autopsy revealed that Hernandez-Valdez had been stabbed or cut more than 34 times in the head, neck, back, hands, and chest.

Luis Arroyo was automatically prosecuted as an adult. Earlier this year, a judge ruled that Cristobal Arroyo, who was 14 at the time of the murder, would also be treated as an adult.

The Associated Press

Police say two groups exchanged shots across a south Seattle street Sunday night just before midnight, wounding a woman in the leg.

A 22-year-old man who fled deputies trying to arrest him on warrants Friday, was finally caught around 8:30 p.m., after he was sprayed with fire hoses, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

Vincent Nutter was wanted for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Earlier in the day, he had eluded arrest in the unincorporated area of Snohomish County called Clearview. Residents around the 7000 block of Interurban Avenue had been told to stay indoors while deputies searched for him.

Nutter managed to get away in a stolen car just before 6 p.m. He drove east, then ran into the woods, climbing 40 feet up a tree near the 7000 block of 184th Street Southeast.

When negotiations failed, personnel from Fire District 7 opened their hoses, and “after a few blasts of water, the suspect willingly agreed to climb down the tree,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton.

Nutter was booked into jail on the warrants, and he may face additional charges after Friday’s pursuit.

Both Nutter and his 47-year-old father, Mark Nutter, are listed on the Washington’s Most Wanted website.

According to sheriff’s Capt. Ty Trenary. “Both are  currently wanted for being felons in possession of firearms. Mark Nutter has been specifically targeted by the ATF (federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) because of his involvement with assault weapons, shotguns and other firearms.”

UPDATE, 11 P.M.  Everett police say that 40 year-old Jason M. Riley of Lake Stevens, was apprehended in the crawlspace below the house, after an eight-hour standoff.  Riley will be booked into the Snohomish County Jail on burglary charges.

After a search, no grenade was found, and the residents have returned to their house, police say.

EARLIER POST | Everett police say they’re continuing to surround a suspected burglar late Friday in the 3800 block of Wetmore Avenue, where the man is inside a house and claims to have a grenade.

A neighbor called police at around 1:45 p.m. saying a home burglary was under way. When police arrived, the intruder went from outside back into the house, said police spokesman Aaron Snell.  Police  searched inside for 25 minutes, until the man, who was in the attic, said he had a grenade and was willing to use it.

Snell didn’t have confirmation whether the officers actually saw a grenade.

There are no hostages, and no major streets are blocked, said Snell.

Bomb-squad officers a SWAT team and firefighters have arrived. Negotiators are still trying to “establish verbal contact with the subject,” Snell said.

Mayor Mike McGinn announced Friday that Seattle police will expand their “predictive policing” software project to all five precincts, building on what he described as initial success in the East and Southwest precincts.

Under the program, computer models similar to those that predict earthquake aftershocks analyze Seattle crime data dating to 2008 to forecast times and locations where crime is likely to occur in an area as small as 500-by-500 feet.

In February, McGinn and police officials unveiled a pilot project in the East and Southwest precincts, with the goal of cutting crime and eliminating biased policing.

“We’ve had anecdotal successes with the pilot project … so we’re expanding Predictive Policing citywide,” McGinn said in a written statement.

Seattle police said the wider program will begin Sunday, when officers starting their shifts will be given precinct maps speckled with red boxes forecasting areas where officers “might be more likely to catch a burglar breaking into a home, or a prowler rifling through someone’s car.”

Officers will spend at least two hours of their shifts patrolling areas where crime is forecast, the department said.

As with the pilot program, forecasting will be limited to property crimes — which occur in the largest numbers — but could be expanded to violent crimes.

McGinn asked city residents to help by reporting even minor property crimes, so the data set for predicting crime can be improved.

UPDATE at 9:06 P.M.  Deputies have arrested wanted felon Vincent Nutter after several hours of pursuit, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office announced via Twitter. Police dogs and a helicopter were part of a search in a wooded area, after Nutter left Clearview in a vehicle, then got out and ran, the sheriff’s office said.

UPDATE AT 5:56 P.M.: The sheriff’s office did not locate Nutter and is lifting the lockdown.

ORIGINAL POST: Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies are warning residents of the Clearview area to stay indoors while they search for a wanted felon believed to be armed and dangerous.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said deputies tried to serve a warrant this afternoon at a home in the 7000 block of Interurban Avenue, but the 22-year-old suspect drove off in a car. Following a pursuit, the suspect stopped the car and ran off.

The sheriff’s office said the search is focused around 180th Street Southeast and James Street in unincorporated Snohomish County.

The wanted man has been identified as Vincent Nutter. Both Nutter and his 47-year-old father, Mark Nutter, are wanted by the Snohomish County Violent Offender Task Force. They are also listed on the Washington’s Most Wanted website.

According to Snohomish County sheriff’s Capt. Ty Trenary: “Both are  currently wanted for being felons in possession of firearms. Mark Nutter, the  father, has been specifically targeted by the ATF (federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) because of his involvement with assault weapons, shotguns and other firearms.”

Residents in a one-miles radius from the scene are being asked to stay indoors.