Seattle man sentenced in hate-crime case

Seattle

A Seattle man accused of spewing racist remarks at two Crown Hill delicatessen employees Feb. 20 was sentenced Thursday to nine months in jail

Brian Lappin, 35, of Seattle, and Nichol Kirk, 25, of Shoreline, were arrested and charged with malicious harassment under the state's hate-crime law. Lappin pleaded guilty to malicious harassment in April and will get credit for 64 days he already has served in jail, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Kirk is to be tried June 11.

According to the charging papers, Lappin and Kirk, who are both white, entered Saleh's Delicatessen, in the 2400 block of Northwest 80th Street, and attempted to purchase beer and cigarettes. Kirk allegedly began making derogatory statements and shouting racial epithets at the clerk.

When the business owner stepped in and asked the pair to leave, Lappin became verbally aggressive as well, the police report says. The two allegedly refused to leave, and a scuffle ensued. The clerk and business owner are both from Yemen.

Kirk allegedly kicked and slapped the business owner, but the owner managed to hold down the two defendants until police arrived, the charging papers state.

Seattle

Man arrested in 2 bank heists

A 26-year-old man accused of robbing two banks in Kent and West Seattle was arrested Wednesday by the Pacific Northwest Fugitive Apprehension Task Force.

Michael Bevans was in a South Seattle motel when he was arrested, said FBI spokesman Larry Carr. The state Department of Corrections had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

One of the robberies occurred May 15 at the U.S. Bank branch at 4200 S.W. Edmunds St., in West Seattle, Carr said. After that robbery, Seattle police and FBI agents swarmed the area, but they couldn't find the robber.

On May 18, Carr said Bevans robbed the Columbia Bank in Kent, 504 West Meeker.

In addition to Bevans, police arrested a 36-year-old woman on Wednesday who is believed to have helped with the robberies.

The task force is composed of investigators from the King County Sheriff's Office, Seattle Police Department, Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, Department of Corrections, the State Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Bellingham

Rifle turns out to be a prosthetic leg

The woman suspected foul play was afoot; she just had no idea what it was.

Police barricaded streets near a branch of St. Joseph Hospital after that woman called to report a man with an assault rifle walking into a medical office building. The assault rifle turned out to be a prosthetic leg, Bellingham Police Deputy Chief David Doll said.

Police searched the building floor by floor. When no suspect was found, police evacuated the building, and the woman who reported the incident spotted the office worker who had carried the leg, The Bellingham Herald reported.

"Everyone did everything right," Doll said. "Like we hoped, it turned out to be a good situation today." The scare brought a response from several agencies, including the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office, Western Washington University Police and the State Patrol. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter patrolled the area to check the building's roof.

Everett

Aircraft to hunt for drunken drivers

The State Patrol plans to try a new drunken-driving patrol in Snohomish County over Memorial Day weekend using aircraft equipped with infrared radar combined with tips from the public.

Pilots who spot possibly impaired drivers — with or without 911 calls from other drivers — will relay information to patrol officers on the ground.

The aircraft's radar images also will be transmitted to a command center at Paine Field in Everett.

Overtime funding from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission will allow extra troopers to be on patrol today and Saturday between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. each night.

The State Patrol believes it is the only law-enforcement agency in the nation using this mix of resources to locate and arrest drunken drivers, said agency spokesman Trooper Kirk Rudeen.

Seattle Times staff and news services