‘You’d rather have drug dealers?’: Jake, Spike clash over bounty hunter tactics near Seattle’s Sandel Park

A chaotic scene unfolded near Sandel Park in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood last week when nine bail recovery agents surrounded an RV, fired non-lethal projectiles including pepper balls and 40mm rounds, and detained 42-year-old Titus Reams, who was wanted on seven felony warrants.

A woman was zip-tied and placed in a nearby resident’s yard. Reams attempted to flee in the RV, striking parked vehicles before being apprehended about a block away.

Neighbors had repeatedly complained to Seattle police about the RVs parked near the park, where they said drug activity was a daily occurrence, often within view of children at the playground.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, agreed the RV problem needed to be dealt with, but split on whether the bounty hunters’ approach was justified or reckless.

Jake thinks the neighbors should be grateful the drug dealers are gone

Jake acknowledged the scene was chaotic but argued the end result was what the neighborhood had been asking for, and that the bounty hunters did what the Seattle Police Department (SPD) wouldn’t.

“I’m not 100% sure why these neighbors are complaining about this,” Jake said. “You have now bounty hunters coming in using non-lethal weapons, which could be scary to somebody who’s not expecting to see them there. They think they’re real weapons, but they’re not; in this case, they’re not lethal, at least. Still scary. But they’re removing the situation that is plaguing your neighborhood.”

He pointed out that the neighbor who filed the most complaints, Allison Blevins, had been calling SPD and city officials about the RVs for months with no result.

“If I’m one of those neighbors, I’m probably also maybe not doing an interview, because maybe in your neighborhood it’s not popular, but I’d probably give a little attaboy to the folks who came in and risked their health and safety to get these drug dealers out of the neighborhood,” Jake said.

When Spike pushed back, Jake boiled it down to a binary choice.

“If you had to have one of the two: Bounty hunters come in or the drug dealers living in the RV selling drugs with weapons,” Jake said. “You have to choose one of those two things.”

Spike noted the outcome was right, but the execution was reckless

Spike said he had no problem with the suspect being detained but took issue with the number of agents, the volume of projectiles fired, and the proximity to a playground full of children.

“I’d rather have like three bounty hunters show up, block the wheels of the vehicle, put a block in front of an RV so he can’t go speeding through the neighborhood,” Spike said. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask that these guys do their job professionally.”

He said firing nine weapons in multiple directions, with projectiles landing in neighboring yards within range of the playground, crossed a line.

“Of course I’d rather have the perp detained than sell drugs in my neighborhood. Of course I would,” Spike said. “But I think they used unprofessional and excessive tactics.”

Jake conceded the point in part but circled back to the bigger picture.

“Those are risky propositions. Not an easy job,” Jake said. “But in the long run of things, if I had to choose one of those two things, I’d rather have the drug dealers out of there.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3