Copper thieves strike again. This time, it did damage in North Seattle’s Crown Hill neighborhood, where it’s “lights out” at the neighborhood park because of all the damage.
A man who lives nearby says he caught a couple of copper thieves in the act, but didn’t get the response he wanted when he called 911.
Clark Scheff says two suspicious guys with tools along NW 85th Street caught his eye around two in the morning early last week.
“I noticed them on the traffic camera from my home. I look at it every now and then to see what’s going on,” said Scheff.
He went outside and saw the men quickly getting into two utility boxes along the sidewalk.
“This guy here was just pulling wires through and just wrapping them around his arm, at least 100 feet or so,” said Scheff. “I’m like ‘so what are you going for?’ He’s like ‘oh, copper’.”
Scheff says he then called 911.
“I get on the phone, and I guess somebody else called it in there like ‘oh, is it two guys? We have another call for that.’ I’m like ‘yeah, I’m right here, they’re doing it right now,” said Scheff.
Scheff called 911 again as the two men worked their way down the street, stealing more wiring.
“Only response I got was one of the dispatchers who was like, ‘are you following him, are you following him?’ They seemed to be upset that I was maybe following – just giving them updates,” Scheff said. “It’s very frustrating. I’m sitting there actively watching it, giving them a play-by-play, and no response.”
Then late last week, Scheff noticed nearby Baker Park was in the dark, with more boxes pried open with wires cut.
“I don’t know if it’s the same crew. I’m just afraid of when they fix it, somebody’s going to come by and yank out wires again,” said Scheff.