Back to Truck Driving School
Last week Officer Jeff Inklebarger responded to report of a semi-truck blocking to roadway. The driver, who was not from the area and new to driving trucks, took his big rig into the area of Patten Avenue and Hartford Avenue. When the driver attempted the impossible, a hairpin turn, the results were predictable. The driver received a monster tow bill as the tow company had to bring out two of their heavy-duty tow trucks and a supervisor with specialized knowledge. Having driven a moving van in an earlier life, I can sympathize with our poor driver. I wonder how that call to the boss went?
Sergeant Heffernan Passes the Torch
First of all, I would like to apologize. Officer Faidley is now doing the gold team watch recaps and he upped the game by putting a cool watermark of the BPD shoulder patch on the page. I don't know how to do that. I'm like Jennifer Aniston in Office Space. I'm only going with the minimum flair here. My recaps are all about substance, not eye candy. I don't sell the steak, I sell the sizzle. [Sergeant Heffernan]
It wasn't me.
Officer Frank Shaw nabbed a speeder going almost double the limit on the Warren Avenue Bridge. He caught up to him as the car exited at Callahan Drive and he watched as the driver then blew the stop sign at Wheaton Way. Officer Shaw pulled the man over and quickly realized why he was driving like a fool. He was drunk off the liquor.
Officer Avery responded to a DUI. The man refused Field Sobriety Tests and a Portable Breath Test and said he had five to seven beers. He pointed to an open bag with two more beers inside, indicating he wasn't done for the night.
Based on his observations, Officer Avery placed the man under arrest for DUI and transported him to BPD for a breath test. Once there, he realized this was the same subject we arrested just over a week ago for domestic assault. At that time, he was booked not knowing his real name.
The suspect complained that it's not against the law to drink and drive. When asked about last week's arrest, he said it wasn't him as he doesn't commit crimes. Umm, okay.
The man blew into the Draeger and registered in the .160 neighborhood and was booked into jail. At least this time, we knew who he was. Oh, and in case you were wondering, it is against the law to drink and drive and prove your impairment by going 65 in a 35 zone and blowing a stop sign. [Sergeant Jeff Shaefer]
You know what they say about karma...
So early one morning last week, I ran the plate of a silver Beemer heading north on Park Avenue at about Martin Luther King Way. A computer check showed the owner to have a felony drug warrant but, by the time I was able to figure this out, the car was gone. Officer Prouse later found it parked unoccupied at the backside of the problem house in the 800 block of Park Avenue. Criminal-1, Cops-0.
Fast forward to later in the afternoon, the same BMW failed to yield to a city dump truck. If you suspected it was the same BMW owner with the felony warrant driving it, you suspected right. She wasn't severely injured and was detained on her warrant. She appeared to be under the influence, so Officer Sara Felty processed her for DUI. She was taken to the hospital where she provided blood. We discovered the woman had three prior DUI convictions making this one her fourth and thus a felony. She was booked into jail for the warrant and no bail on the DUI. You can tell by the photos who won this round.
Huh?
There's no title for this one so I'll just go with the ole' face-palm image. A woman well known to police had her Honda stolen twice recently. Well I guess she decided turnabout is fair play, so she stole a car of her own . A guy loaned his Ford Focus to a friend who was contacted by our suspect. The woman asked the friend to take her to a house on the west side where she thought her Honda was. The friend said,
"I don't know you very well, but that sounds like a great idea. What could go wrong?" and let the woman drive his Focus to the house because only she knew how to get there. Apparently, she asked him to go knock on the door. While he did, she took off in the Focus. While he was in complete shock as she took off in his friend's car, I was in complete shock at two things:
- That woman's Honda wasn't at this house she dumped him at because this whole scheme sounded legit; and
- 2) That anyone would allow this woman to operate a motor vehicle while they rode in it.
Officer Avery took a stolen vehicle report from the owner. [Corporal Jeff Schaefer]
Taking Care of the Customer
Officers Frank Shaw and Alex George responded to a verbal domestic between a mother and her adult daughter on the east side. They both live in their car and mom was having a mental health breakdown. She had been at the hospital the night before but left when they didn't see her fast enough. She left the ER without any shoes. Officer Shaw asked Officer George to go down to the nearby Goodwill store to see if they would be willing to donate some footwear. He returned a short while later with a pair of shoes for mom. Now sporting footwear, mom agreed to take a ride with Officer Shaw to the hospital to talk to someone about her mental health.
He'll enjoy his turkey and mashed potatoes with a jail issued spork.
Over the past couple of weeks, we've been dealing with a resident on Trenton Avenue. It seems all his neighbors have anti-harassment orders against him due to his erratic and alarming behavior. Law enforcement has drawn five case numbers on the suspect in the last month and a total of 14 case numbers since July regarding harassment type incidents throughout the Manette neighborhood.
Last week, one of the protected parties in one of the anti-harassment orders called from her workplace saying she had video of the suspect entering her property, and taking down or breaking her surveillance cameras. The guy probably thought if you made the cameras disappear, there is no evidence, right? Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for the rest of society, the video still fed to the victim who saw the whole event unfold.
Officers responded to the suspect's home and placed him under arrest and booked him on several charges including malicious mischief, criminal trespass, an order violation and stalking for his repeated interactions with this victim. [Sergeant Jeff Schaefer]
Bottle of vodka goes straight to his head - literally.
Corporal Jason Vertefeuille and Officers Ryan Avery and Alex George were summoned to a west side residence by a woman who was involved in a fight with her boyfriend. She admitted she clubbed him in the head with a bottle and locked herself inside her car to call
9-1-1.
Officers arrived to find the boyfriend outside bleeding like a...well, someone who just got clocked in the noggin with a liquor bottle. His face and shirt front were soaked with blood and when asked what happened, he replied, "Nothing."
Not fooled by this clever attempt at subterfuge, officers pressed on but were only able to get the guy to say he simply fell into a bookcase. Bremerton Fire Department medics were called to the scene to treat the man's injuries.
Meanwhile, the reporting party stated that she and her boyfriend of about a year got into a daylong argument which culminated in him grabbing her by the hair and pushing her face down on the kitchen counter. In self-defense, she grabbed the closest implement she could reach which just happened to be a sturdy vodka bottle. She gave it all she had and POW! That's apparently when he fell into the bookcase. She ran out to the car and called the cops.
With the man not providing any further statements, he was arrested for domestic assault, transported to the hospital for a cleanup and some stitches, and then whisked off to jail where he'll likely wake up later this morning with a splitting headache.
The bookcase refused to provide a statement. [Sergeant Jeff Schaefer]
The only two customers in the store try to steal. Brilliant idea. No one will notice.
Right around the graveyard to dayshift shift change, Cencom broadcasted a shoplift that had just occurred at a local grocery. Two subjects in a white SUV took a cart load of groceries but dumped it before getting into the vehicle and driving off. The reporting party was able to get the license plate number on the van before it left, and it returned to an address on Almira Drive.
While Officer Ryan Avery took the theft report, Officer Bill Prouse located the suspect vehicle on Almira and it was occupied by the two suspects, a 180-pound guy and a 300-pound guy. Guess which one took off running as Officer Prouse pulled up? Officer Prouse detained the guy who stayed, who happened to be the owner of the SUV. Officer Avery responded for the interrogation.
The vehicle owner claimed it was the other guy's fault, feigning a ridiculous amount of ignorance. When the statement didn't match up with the crime, Officer Avery called the man out on it and, in response, the suspect said the classic deflective statement, "Are you calling me a liar?" Officer Avery replied bluntly, "Yes."
Officer Prouse was finally able to identify the fleeing suspect. The detainee was booked and there is PC for his friend.
UPDATE: During an unwanted person call on Wheaton Way, Officer Prouse located the guy who ran. He was placed under arrest by Officer Avery and taken to jail to be reunited with his buddy albeit with the additional charge of obstructing. [Corporal Jeff Schaefer]
Doing our part to curb drunk driving.
Officer Alex George investigated a motorcycle versus curb crash. He arrived to find the bike laying in the street and the former rider leaning up against a nearby fence being evaluated by medics. After taking two minutes to find his wallet in his pocket and demonstrating all the classic signs of impairment, Officer George asked the guy if he would like to perform some field sobriety tests.
The guy either declined or failed each test trying to do most of them while still leaning against the fence for support. He was arrested and refused the BAC, so Officer George obtained a search warrant for blood. The man was booked for DUI. He had no recollection of hitting a curb so maybe he just tipped over. That's the trouble with driving something with two wheels when you're drunk.
Of all the places you could have ran to...
Officer Chris Faidley went to a Lansing Avenue residence for an unknown problem related to a domestic violence situation there. He knocked on the door and was greeted by the primary resident's son who, upon seeing the cops at the door, shut it and locked it. It was at that moment that Cencom informed Officer Faidley that the homeowner had an outstanding Department of Corrections (DOC) warrant. Mom came to the door and let the cops in. It was clear the suspect jumped out a back window to escape. Just as the table was being set for a K9 track, a woman who is well known to police and lives nearby called to report the suspect was in her home. Now if you've ever been to this residence, you know what it's like. If you aren't familiar, let me paint you a picture. Two words: NAS and TY. Officers thumb wrestled for the privilege of NOT going into the home to get the suspect. I guess Officer Corey Ditmer has the weakest abductor pollicis brevis (look it up) as he was the one that had to go inside where he found our man hiding under a wet blanket (trust me, you don't want to know). It was a tough job, but The Viking is always up to the task when it comes to putting in work. That's why they call him the Dirty 435 (badge number). The suspect, who was barefoot (queasy yet?) was booked into jail for his warrant. [Sergeant Jeff Schaefer]
Recovered Stolen Vehicle...With Dope
Officer Trevor Donnelly located an occupied stolen vehicle in a car wash lot. The new owner, who was found in possession of heroin, admitted to trading the car for - wait for it - heroin. The vehicle was recovered and returned to the thankful owner (who according to the initial report purchased the non-running vehicle for $50 but valued it at $7,000). [Sergeant Ryan Heffernan]
A little practice.
Uh oh, State wasn't available so stolen car recover specialist extraordinaire Officer Hughes got an opportunity to brush up on his Field Sobriety Tests. Totally sober by the way!
Vehicle Assault?
Officer France was dispatched to an assault behind the Mission. The caller reported that someone punched his car for no reason and then reached through the window and punched him in the head. The "victim" didn't want to make a fuss about it, just let us know what happened. Officer France was able to contact the assailant, who claimed the victim had tried to run him over in his car, and then followed him around the back lot. The man said that he had no choice, but to punch him through the window. Despite being the victim of an attempted vehicular assault, he did not want to pursue the matter further. Fun times. A normal night downtown.
Jim Burchett, Chief