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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

City Why Did It Take Police So Long to Catch the Alleged Greenwood Arsonist?

Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:46 AM

Kaia Chessen reports:

Weeks after firefighters doused blazes across Greenwood, the charred sites of almost a dozen arsons still pock the North Seattle neighborhood. Four restaurants, a coffeehouse, a theater, and a guitar shop have closed their doors. Several buildings are reduced to cinder. Now some business owners and neighbors are wondering if some of the damage could have been prevented.

Kevin Todd Swalwell has been held in the King County Jail, charged with the crimes, since his arrest on November 13. He is scheduled for an arraignment hearing on December 1, facing 11 felony counts of arson and one count of burglary. However, court documents show that police had clues as early as this summer that Swalwell—a neighborhood fixture with a criminal record as a repeat arsonist—was the culprit...

"If he had been caught earlier, my restaurant would be open and we wouldn't have gone through all this construction and had the time loss," says Timur Leno, owner of the restaurant Olive You, which was struck on November 9. He's not blaming the police but, he says, "They had all the information on him and he slipped into the cracks and was not caught. It's just strange. The police must explain to us: How could this happen?"

The rest of the piece is HERE.