Free Republic

What was a routine food run for the firefighters of Pierce County Fire District 13 Monday turned into a troubling crime when their firetruck was robbed. While inside a Tacoma grocery store, customers alerted the crew a group of people pulled alongside the truck in a U-Haul and ransacked it. “I was in disbelief for a second,” firefighter Alandra Swords said. “It took me a minute to comprehend what they were saying, and then I immediately raced out of the store.” Expensive, lifesaving equipment was stolen, the crew reported. “They got away with all of our saws – our chainsaw,...

TACOMA, Wash. — Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors swarmed the Port of Tacoma Monday morning in an attempt to block what they believed to be a ship that would be loaded with weapons and military equipment bound for Israel. The Port of Tacoma entrance was blocked by protestors shortly before 5:30 a.m., forcing drivers to turn around. Pedestrians and cyclists were seen demonstrating with signs and chants. Some signs read "No aid for Israel” and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." "The goal here is to delay or stop any kind of arms shipments form the United...

Shawn Kemp, a six-time NBA All-Star, has been booked in an alleged drive-by shooting in Washington. The Tacoma Police Department tweeted on Wednesday that there were shots fired following an altercation between the occupants of two cars in a parking lot. One of the cars fled the scene; a gun was later recovered.

TACOMA, Wash. — The defense rested its case on Monday in the criminal misdemeanor trial of Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer, who returned for a second day of testimony. The sheriff is accused of filing a false report that a Black newspaper carrier threatened to kill him. On his second day on the witness stand, Troyer said he never requested the big police response when he called a back line to dispatch about a confrontation with a suspicious man in his neighborhood who Troyer said threatened him. “I knew one or two units was all I needed to handle the...

Oct. 12 - An ordinance to create a homeless encampment ban around temporary shelters and protected waters in Tacoma was passed by the City Council on a 6-3 vote Tuesday night. The ordinance restricts homeless camps from being set up within 10 blocks of the city's temporary homeless shelters. The implementation and enforcement of the ordinance will be determined by Neighborhood and Community Services and Tacoma Police Department, ahead of the Nov. 14 effective date. Encampments now would be banned near Aspen Court, Tacoma Emergency Micro-Shelter Sites at 6th Avenue and Orchard Street, South 69th Street and Proctor Street, 60th...

A candy store employee is facing murder charges after allegedly attacking a woman outside the Tacoma store with a "samurai-like" sword. Abdelhakim Choubabi, 52, murdered the woman outside the Candy Market in the 700 block of Market Street around 7:50 p.m. on April 30, according to court records. Tacoma police say they were called to the scene by a resident nearby who saw what they described as a woman being hit multiple times with a pole of some kind. The woman was found dead from multiple stab wounds about 20 feet outside the store entrance. Choubabi, though, had left in...

Tacoma Narrows Bridge tolls will be reduced by 75 cents beginning in September, with the intent that they remain at that rate until the span is paid off in 10 years. The decrease is the result of Substitute Senate Bill 5488, which requires transfers of $3.25 million from the general fund to the toll bridge account each quarter until June 2032, for a total of $130 million. After the House changed the bill on Saturday, the Senate had to concur on Thursday, which sponsor Sen. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, said it would. Rates — currently set at $5.25 with a Good...

Tacoma police is placing an officer on administrative leave, forcing him to surrender his badge and gun, after he referred to city leaders as “spineless and tyrannical” and called for police to disobey orders in a video he filmed while on duty in his patrol car.“This message is for the police in DC and other cities that have spineless and tyrannical leaders such as mine,” Patrol Officer Robert Hollingsworth says in the video. Hollingsworth goes on to say the “freedom convoy” is coming and urges officers not to violate people’s rights due to the orders of “some liberal tyrant.”Hollingsworth ends...

Frantic parents with children in their arms fled in every direction during a Black Friday shooting at a packed mall in Washington, witnesses said. Kobe Marsh was inside Panera Bread at Tacoma Mall with a friend when they heard a loud bang, which they quickly realized was gunfire around 7:08 p.m., the Sun reported Saturday.

As you can see in the video from this Trucker in Tacoma, Washington. They are plenty of trucks that are waiting for the cranes to operate at a port. Not a single one of them are moving. All the truckers are waiting for loads to deliver the supplies. The truckers are sitting there doing nothing because the ports are not working. This has nothing to do with a truck driver shortage. The truckers need work, the freight is ready to load, but the cranes are not operating. This is not a "supply chain breakdown" - this is a breakdown of...

A Washington state school decreed that students must wear masks in the cafeteria — while chewing and swallowing food, Jason Rantz of KTTH-AM reported... Rantz noted a portion of an email to parents from Principal Neil O'Brien outlining the policy: "Yes. Children should wear masks during lunch. They can lower it to take a bite or a drink, and raise it to chew, swallow, or talk. Our cafeteria has a fantastic airflow system and children are spaced apart AND when over a hundred of them are in one large room (the cafeteria and gym combined) we need to treat lunchtime...

An outbreak at a migrant processing center in Tacoma, Washington, has infected at least 150 people, the Seattle Times reported Tuesday. COVID-19 has infected at least 150 individuals, including seven guards and a federal health care worker, since the outbreak at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center in Tacoma in early June, the Seattle Times reported, based on a lawyer’s account of events. The lawyer, Aaron Korthuis of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, additionally claimed that the agency has released 570 migrants deemed high-risk of contracting COVID-19 from the facility, according to the Seattle Times. Due to the pandemic,...

TACOMA, Wash. — State troopers are responding to an increased number of traffic collisions near an Interstate 5 construction zone in Tacoma. “We’re looking at a little more than two collisions that happen on this stretch per day,” Trooper Robert Royer with the Washington State Patrol said. The data provided by the agency, which covers the distance between milepost 132 (near state Route 16 exit) to milepost 136 (near the Port of Tacoma Road exit), shows traffic collisions are up 33% since 2019. With more than 400 collisions already reported this year (so far), troopers are responding to at least...

Manuel Ellis died of respiratory arrest due to hypoxia. That means the 33-year-old black man was deprived of oxygen — or choked out — while being restrained in the street by Tacoma police officers, in handcuffs. In a nation already reeling from the murder of George Floyd and too many other black Americans, Ellis’ March 3 death amounts to a homicide, the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s office concluded this week.

Tacoma City Council and members of the Citizens Police Advisory Committee pressed police Chief Chief Mike Ake and City Manager Elizabeth Pauli for swift response and accountability after an officer drove through a crowd downtown on Saturday night, running over at least one person. The incident led both the council and CPAC to schedule special meetings Monday night to address the issue, where various members called to address street racing and accountability from the Tacoma Police Department. City Manager Elizabeth Pauli reiterated Monday night that she was “shocked and horrified to see video of a police vehicle driving over a...

Dutch police on the attack with water cannon to shut down coronavirus lockdown protesters in Amsterdam and Eindhoven today. Tear gas also used used against the E Eindhoven protesters. Demonstrations banned under the coronavirus lockdown in the Netherlands... The police attack on protesters in Amsterdam included dogs and mounted police. 100 detained there... A coronavirus testing center in one Dutch town torched Saturday night... Clashes in Israel today as police cracked down on Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods to enforce the coronavirus lockdown. Injuries and arrests as residents fought police with stones... In Denmark the Prime Minister burned in effigy as protesters...

A Tacoma police cruiser ran over a person Saturday night after responding to a reported street racing incident in the South 900 Block of Pacific Avenue. Tacoma police spokeswoman, Officer Wendy Haddow, said the agency started receiving calls at 6:19 p.m. that a car was driving erratically and there were reports of street racing in the area. The patrol car, surrounded by groups of shouting people, revs its engine and suddenly surges forward, striking the group and running over at least one individual before driving on. The police officer was responding to calls of illegal street racing with obligatory doughnut...

A Tacoma police officer whose SUV was surrounded by a crowd was seen on camera running over a pedestrian Saturday night. The incident was captured on camera and distributed on social media. Tacoma police officer Wendy Haddow said officers were called to Ninth South and Pacific where cars were blocking the intersection and doing burnouts and doughnuts. A crowd of about 100 people had gathered to watch. A Tacoma police officer who arrived soon found himself surrounded by people who were banging on the windows and SUV in a threatening way, Haddow said. Some of the SUV’s windows may have...

A 33-year-old man has been arrested for a fatal shooting near a homeless encampment in Tacoma. Police were called to the encampment near Sixth Avenue and South M Street about 7:40 p.m. Thursday by several people who heard gunshots. They found a 38-year-old man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he died. He has not been publicly identified. As detectives were investigating the scene, the 33-year-old man approached them to advise he’d been involved in the incident. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply....

A video is going viral today showing the moment a black motorist confronted Black Lives Matter protesters who were blocking a road in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday. The video shows the motorist, who is wearing a red shirt, jeans, and dark baseball cap, standing next to a blue pickup truck at an intersection that the protesters seem to have blocked. The rioters can be seen yelling at him, but he gives it right back to them. Holding nothing back, the motorist tells the protesters that what they are doing is having a negative impact on the black lives they claim...