Seventy gallons of gas were stolen from the Pit Stop (15th Ave NW & NW 58th St) earlier this month, SeattleCrime.com is reporting.
According to the website, who cites the police report, two men drove up, “used a credit card to start a gas pump, removed the pump cover with a screwdriver, and broke off a pin which meters the flow of gasoline. The tampering went unnoticed by an ‘elderly’ clerk, and the men were able to make off with 70 gallons of gas.” The thieves may have come back the next day in a different vehicle, but a gas station employee contacted them and they drove off. Police were able to get the license plates from one of the vehicles, which is registered to a Kent address. This is the same gas station where Manish Melwani was murdered last summer. (Thanks Silver & Steve!)
Gas stolen from Ballard Pit Stop
![](https://www.myballard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024-My-Ballard-Tile-Ad-Troop-100.png")
Why the need to include the “elderly” bit?
because a younger employee would've noticed maybe?
also, old people move pretty slowly and can be bowled over with little force.
Signs point to the guy on the moped (pictured). Those “Mosquito Fleet” / “Moped Army” kids are troublemakers.
Although they can only steal one gallon at a time. ;)
Does anyone know what happens when the police are given a license plate of a vehicle whose occupants commit a crime like this? If they confirm the plate matches the description of the car (and the video evidence), what do they do then? The fact that they found out the car is registered to a Kent address doesn't seem like doing much. What's the rest of the story?
Give me a break.. You should meet my Grandma!!!
Even with the low fuel prices right now I wonder is we'll see increased crime like tank siphoning. I was expecting this kind of crime when gas was $5/gal.
I think Ninaf made an importance observation. No so much on the focus Ninaf paid to the “elderly” comment, but more on the necessity of this post in general.
“This is the same gas station where Manish Melwani was murdered last summer. (Thanks Silver & Steve!)”
Two things to note. First, why link this story to the Melwani shooting? They are not connected. Yes, the coverage on the shooting was excellent, and I am sure that linking this story to a more provocative one is beneficial to the growing popularity of the site, but I see no other justification for the link except for blatant self promotion.
Second, if this was already posted on seattlecrime.com and Silver and Steve both mentioned it to this site (which is appreciated, since proactive followers of the site should always be encouraged and acknowledged), then why the need to create an entire story of already known and published information? I believe the attention given to this story was overblown, and the overall feel comes off awkward compared to the rest of the stellar, original information that is usually presented.
I am making too much of a deal out of nothing, but this is the first post which lacks heart and passion. This news was flat and uninspired.
Seems to me, Vacant_Bowler, that mentioning multiple crimes at the same location in the neighborhood is relevant. I myself have witnessed at least one drug deal happen there. Perhaps this Pit Stop warrants some scrutiny.
As to heart and passion, these are two things “news” does not need.
Au contraire. I for one appreciate most of the information presented here by the Swedes. I use this site for my neighborhood news and don't go to seattlecrime.com so I want these articles as complete as possible, redundancy elsewhere be damned. The thought also crossed my mind as I read, “isn't that the station where….?” and the article confirmed that.
Heart and passion? Whatever. As long as you can spell and have some concept of grammar you will satisfy 95% of your readers here. As for the use of “elderly” in the story, that was probably unnecessary although I bet that appeared in the police report.