SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Another assault in Ballard, this time a child at a community center

Jul 18, 2018, 3:47 PM | Updated: Jul 19, 2018, 1:12 pm

Ballard...

A woman is accused of assaulting a 4-year-old outside the Ballard Community Center. (Seattle Parks and Rec)

(Seattle Parks and Rec)

On Monday afternoon at the Ballard Community Center, a woman under the influence assaulted a 4-year-old child after she was asked to leave, according to Seattle Police. The woman then attempted to shoot heroin behind the center. A children’s summer camp was in progress at the time.

According to police, officers were unable to locate the woman when they responded to the scene.

Listeners who were at the site and live in the neighborhood told us that the woman has been seen around Ballard quite a bit in the last several months.

RELATED: Petition writers want Mike O’Brien to rethink policies

The woman is described as white, in her 50s, approximately 5’8, and with short blonde hair. She was dressed in all black at the time.

We’re trying to get hold of SPD because there’s a little disparity here. The description on the Nextdoor neighborhood blog says that police arrived 20-30 minutes later. The SPD blotter states that police arrived “quickly.” Twenty to 30 minutes is not “quickly,” so I want to figure out which one is correct.

I know this community center. This was practically my home when I was a kid. This was where I played Little League. So many of my favorite memories took place here. I get so sorrowful when I think of what the site of my childhood memories is turning into — the rampant crime, the druggies everywhere. The fact that the representative on the Seattle City Council for Ballard, Mike O’Brien, is too busy rolling out a plan today for inter-connected bicycle lanes downtown to pay attention to the needs of his own neighborhood.

Hey, Mike O’Brien — why don’t you worry about cleaning up your own community of Ballard instead of trotting out these $2 million bicycle lane ideas? You have a community in crisis right now where children are getting assaulted by druggies shooting up at the community center. There is a day camp going on for kids right there, and our children are not safe.

The assault of 4-year-old girls at summer day camp is on Mike O’Brien. And here he is, rolling out a bike lane plan and sending out self-congratulatory press releases. The lack of prioritization on this council is unbelievable. For Mike O’Brien, everything is just a diversionary tactic. “Well, everybody loves bike lanes, so I’ll put out this press release, and maybe for two seconds everyone will forget how drug-filled Ballard has gotten.”

Guess what, Mike? We don’t forget. And we clearly can identify the reasons why this city and this entire region have been overrun with crime and drugs — because of bureaucratic losers like you, who are only worried about putting tolls on every street downtown, so families that are too poor to afford the tunnel will still have to give even more money to government. That also was a Mike O’Brien plan that got a step closer to fruition this week.

Clean up your streets before you work so diligently to get even more taxpayer money, Mike O’Brien.

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Dori: Another assault in Ballard, this time a child at a community center