Man sent to hospital for evaluation following Salmon Bay Park incident

By Meghan Walker at our sister site My Ballard

A man believed to be the person who harassed children and parents at the Salmon Bay Park on Monday has been sent to the hospital for treatment and a mental health evaluation. Officers found the man in the Ballard Commons Park yesterday, after he matched the description given by several witnesses. They then took his information and ran his name, but found nothing. Wednesday morning, police say they received information that he may be a missing man from Montana with mental health issues, so they returned to Ballard Commons Park with the Crisis Intervention Team to to take him to the hospital for evaluation.

Many readers were concerned about the Seattle Police Department?s response time of over an hour, but SPD says that while officers were quickly dispatched to the park, ?a chain of events created a delay.? Regardless, they say that after reviewing the incident, ?the 911 call center has determined this call should have merited a faster response from police.?

Here is SPD?s explanation, from the Blotter:

• 911 dispatchers received the call at 6:21 pm. The information officers had at the time from the initial call is that this was a suspicious person.
• Following the initial dispatch, officers did not have information that the suspicious man had made any physical contact with or threatened anyone in the park.
• The incident, which was happening during the North Precinct?s shift change, was logged as a ?urgent? Priority 2 call, which required a two officers to respond. All 911 calls are flagged as Priority 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, with Priority 1 calls being the most life-threatening emergencies?like active shootings, violent assaults and calls involving weapons. Officers are then dispatched to the highest priority calls.
• As officers were responding to the Salmon Bay Park, the 911 communications center received an unrelated report of a possible abduction in progress?a man carrying a screaming child into a vehicle at Golden Gardens park?which required an immediate priority 1 ?critical? response. Officers investigated the report, which took some time. The incident at Golden Gardens turned out to be unfounded.
• As officers were investigating the Priority 1 call at Golden Gardens, police received a second call about the man in Salmon Bay park, indicating the man had attempted to make contact with a child in the park.
• While officers were still investigating the Golden Gardens call, a second group of officers just coming on-shift responded to Salmon Bay Park, but the 911 callers and the suspicious man had left the scene.
• Officers contacted the first caller on the Salmon Bay Park incident at home and took a report. Officers also checked the neighborhood for the suspicious man but weren?t able to find him.

SPD says they?ll continue to review incidents like this, ?to ensure our dispatchers are doing everything possible to ensure they are providing the best information to officers on the street.? SPD also says they?re still investigating the case, and are asking for witnesses at the park to call 911.