Fewer problems, plenty of drug arrests, medical emergencies at Seattle FreakNight

Stepped up security and increased safety measures helped reduce the number of serious drug-related incidents during the annual FreakNight at Seattle’s WaMu Theater. But police say undercover detectives still made plenty of drug arrests Friday and Saturday night.

Detectives arrested more than a dozen people for drug sales during the two-day event, including a 17-year-old girl carrying 225 crystal meth capsules and 36 MDMA (or “Molly”) pills, the Seattle Police Department reported.

The increased security actually kept detectives from making even more arrests, says SPD Sgt. Sean Whitcomb.

“The staff security was fairly vigilant and interrupted some of our transactions,” he says.

Detectives continue to investigate a number of cases, including one possibly related to FreakNight when officers also responded to a hotel at 5th and Union at about 4 a.m. Saturday morning for reports of a man clad only in his underwear running up and down the hallways on the 20th floor of the hotel.

“We checked on the man, he couldn’t remember his own last name, but he did admit he had taken some ecstasy and other stuff,” Whitcomb says. “We’re not sure it’s 100 percent related to FreakNight, but it probably was.”

The Seattle Fire Department reports medics or private ambulances transported thirteen people to area hospitals Friday night, and 20 more Saturday night, according to SFD spokesman Kyle Moore.

Virtually all were related to dehydration, alcohol or drugs, he says.