Cheesecake Factory Seattle

Cops investigate rifle left on back of squad car

Seattle police are investigating an assault rifle that was left on the trunk of a patrol car – found only after two people flagged down separate officers to alert them.

The incident happened Monday night, and the patrol car with the gun on the back was photographed in the 1500 block of Seventh Avenue, near The Cheesecake Factory and The Roosevelt hotel.

Police started the investigation after the person who took the photo sent the image to The Stranger. It was posted on Slog , the alternative newspaper's blog, at 5:21 a.m. Monday with a short description of the incident.

It was reposted on Slog at 9:51 a.m. with police spokesman Sean Whitcomb saying the department is " very embarrassed that this happened ."

"There is a chain of command investigation that will look into the circumstances that contributed to this incident," Whitcomb told seattlepi.com. "Just the fact that the rifle was left on a patrol car unattended is embarrassing, and people should expect more from the Police Department."

Seattle police have three classifications for how they keep rifles: unloaded in storage mode, patrol-car ready and tactical ready. The rifles are loaded in the latter two.

Whitcomb said the gun was not in tactical ready mode, but he is not certain whether it was loaded. That will be part of the investigation, he said.

"We'd really like to express our gratitude to Nick the Slog tipper who flagged down the bike officers and also a separate woman who alerted the driver of the patrol car that there was an unattended rifle on the car."

Police officials did not name the officers.

Kathryn Olson, civilian director of the Office of Professional Accountability that investigates police complaints, received e-mails Tuesday morning from people wondering why how the rifle was left unattended.

"The incident was brought to my attention earlier this morning, and I immediately contacted SPD Command Staff," she wrote in one response. "I learned that Captain (Joe) Kessler, the commander of the West Precinct, had already begun an investigation into the circumstances involved.

Olson wrote that she "will monitor the investigation to ensure that all relevant facts are uncovered and that any lapse in procedure is appropriately addressed."

"It is unacceptable that a rifle was left unattended on a patrol car, and people should expect more from their police department," Olson wrote. "We are very grateful to the two good Samaritans who alerted police to the unattended rife: Nick, the SLOG tipster who flagged down near-by SPD bicycle officers who were separately responding, and a woman who followed the patrol car and alerted the driver about the rifle.

Cheesecake Factory Downtown Seattle MePlusFood

(3/5)

Cheesecake Factory. I admit is one of my guilty pleasures, I must go to this place almost everytime I go to the States even though I know there’s better food out there. I can guarantee they would do really well if they opened up in Vancouver. For those unfamiliar they aren’t just cheesecakes, they actually have a huge menu. Not sure how good the menu is overall, because I typically stick to the pastas, appetizers and cheesecakes.

On this visit, we decided to try a bunch of small things, and two of what we thought would be small, lunch-sized salads.We ordered the wild mushroom tacos and Vietnamese pizzette section of small plates. The appies we chose the Tex Mex Egg Rolls, Macaroni and cheese balls. We also had lunch size Cobb and chicken Caesar salad.

Pizzette wild mushrooms was delicious (as is the Italian sausage and ricotta). The crust is thin and crispy and had a very nice mix of wild mushrooms. Awesome flavor and a good amount of cheese. The Vietnamese sandwich was probably the worst start of the pack, but it was still pretty decent. It had a steamed asian rice bun as the taco shell, and filled with pork, cucumber, cilantro, carrots and onion. It worked, but wasn’t the greatest. Maybe it could’ve used a bit of hoisin sauce. It had a little bit of spiciness too. The macaroni and cheese balls were a bit over fried with the crust being too dark. Still it was crspy and the inside was nice and rich, very rich. The creamy tomato sauce added more richness and a bit of sourness. I love these things, but 1 is the perfect amount. The tex mex rolls were really good too, and our favourite appetizer of the bunch.  Crispy egg roll stuffed with chicken, corn, beans, peppers and a bit of cheese with a nice creamy avocado sauce. All the flavours worked well together.

Now onto the bad part. We ordered lunch sized salads, but these things were shockingly still massive. I’m scared to see what a regular sized salad looks like. Anyways both salads were very bad. Both salads didn’t seem to fresh. The cobb salad didn’t taste very good and was over loaded with crumbled egg. The bluecheese was a bit too strong for my liking, but I think overall the unfreshness of the lettuce really turned me off. I think I prefer my cobb salad separated instead of mixed all together. The Caesar salad just seemed a bit off too. The chicken had an odd smell, similar to those precooked sliced chicken breasts you can get at the grocery. The leaves were a bit dead too.

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