Law Enforcement

n January 3 - An officer made contact with a man outside of the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department whom he had seen in previous law enforcement contacts. The man said he would like to make a complaint about two individuals harassing him. The man said on New Year’s Eve he was drinking in a bar and said two individuals in the bar attempted to hit him but were unsuccessful in doing so. The man said the two males were brothers and said he knew them previously and had not had any issues with them.

The man said while in the bar both of the men tried to start a fight with him. The complainant said he did not know what the argument was about. The complainant said they tried to punch him but were stopped by other customers. The complainant said one of the men grabbed his shirt but nothing else physical occurred. The complainant said they did not say they would kill him but stated it would be easy to do so. He said the men were not carrying or displaying any weapons during this incident and said the owner of the bar saw the incident occur.

The officer asked why the men started the altercation and the complainant reiterated he did not know. The man believed it may have been because he was previously a police officer but was not positive.

The officer asked the man why he reported the incident several days after it occurred. The man said he was busy working but wanted the incident documented because if anything happened to him, it would be because of the two men. The officer concluded a follow up would be needed with the men and the owner of the bar.

n January 4 - An officer was on patrol in Abbotsford when a vehicle displayed a reading of 40 mph in a 25 mph zone on the officer’s radar unit. The officer initiated a traffic stop and met with the driver, explaining the reason for the stop. As the driver was writing down his name and address for the officer, the officer observed a clear, plastic sandwich bag on the floor of the rear passenger side seat. The officer could see a green, leafy substance in the bag. The officer asked the man to exit the vehicle and said he could see a bag of suspected marijuana in the vehicle.

The man nodded yes and the officer searched him but found nothing on his person. Nothing else was located in the vehicle besides the clear bag with green, leafy substance.

The officer asked the man about the suspected marijuana and he said a friend left it in his car about a half hour ago. The officer released the man and went back to the police department. The substance in the bag tested positive for marijuana and the man was then mailed citations for possession of a controlled substance, operating without a valid driver’s license and exceeding speed limits 11-15 miles per hour.

n January 4 - An officer was on patrol when he observed a truck in the ditch of North Division Street. The pickup truck appeared to be driving southbound on North Division Street and lost control making the truck drive into the ditch. The officer made contact with the driver and was able to smell the strong odor of an alcoholic intoxicant coming from the man’s breath.

The man said he drank three bottles of beer and said he had stopped drinking beer two hours prior to the incident. The man said he was drinking at a coworker’s house and was on his way home when he lost control of the vehicle. The man agreed to perform some field sobriety tests and a preliminary breath test.

The breath test came back with a reading of 0.122. The man was then placed under arrest and was transported to the CAPD. The man was given a citation for operating while under the influence (first offense), operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration and operating without a valid license. He was then released to a responsible party.

n January 4 - An officer met with a woman in reference to a harassment complaint. The woman said she works at a grocery store and said a man came into the store on January 1 to buy some items. The woman said she checked the man out when he came to the front desk to purchase his items. The woman said she gave the man his credit card back after swiping it on the cash register. The woman said the man grabbed her arm and pulled it towards his body in an attempt to give her a hug.

The woman then pulled away and told the man to never do that again. The man laughed at her and left the store.

The woman said the man came in again on January 3 to purchase a box of crackers. The woman said when she gave the man his credit card back from swiping it, the man grabbed and pulled her hair to see if there was any bruising on her neck from her boyfriend giving her a “hickey.” The woman said when he located a bruise on her neck, the man got mad at the woman. The man made derogatory comments to the woman and said if he sees the woman’s boyfriend that he would hit him and kill him. The woman said she does not want the man harassing her anymore and does not know what to do.

The officer suggested the woman talk to her boss and see if the boss can ban the man from the grocery store. The officer also explained the process for obtaining a restraining order. The woman said she would get a restraining order for the man and did not want the officer to talk to the man as the contacts did not stop when law enforcement made contact with the man in the past.

n January 5 - An officer was dispatched to a residence in reference to a 911 hang-up call. The officer met with a woman who was crying. The woman said she asked her boyfriend to leave and he said he won’t and instead told the woman to leave. The woman said the man had been drinking and saying things to her that made her upset and was upsetting her child.

The woman said nothing got physical between the two and no one was yelling at each other. The officer saw the man sitting at the dining room table with a can of beer in front of him. The officer asked the man if he was asked to leave that night. The man said that the woman can leave and that he is there with his cousins. The man said he did not live there and so the officer said since he does not live there and the woman does, he has to leave when asked. The man agreed.

While speaking to the man, the officer could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from the man’s breath.

The officer asked the man and woman for identification. The woman gave the officer her’s and the man stated he did not have any. The man gave the officer a name and date-of-birth that did not register to anyone when ran through dispatch. The officer told the man to leave and not come back that night.

The man began walking away from the residence. The officer went to the police department and ran the name given through the CAPD system. The name did not come back. The officer then ran the woman’s name through the system which came back to a prior incident involving a man which included a booking photo that matched the man who was at the residence.

The officer returned to the woman’s house and she confirmed the man was the man in the prior incident. The officer ran the man through dispatch and was told he had two open cases through Clark County. Both cases have misdemeanor charges and bond conditions of the defendant shall not possess or consume any alcohol.

The officer checked the area but was unable to locate the man. The officer forwarded charges of two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping and obstruction of a police officer to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office.

n January 7 - An officer took a report of suspicious activity from a man in Abbotsford. The officer met with the man who said someone had been messing with his property. The man said he had a sign on a post that was in his front yard. The man was not very specific but said the sign was knocked over and possibly urinated on.

The man said he tossed the sign and was not too concerned about the loss. The man said that morning he went to bring his garbage can back up from the road and found someone had attached a sign to the can. The man was very upset about the danger sign that someone had screwed to the side of his can and said if he found out who was doing it that they would be in a world of pain.

The man said if he found them he would beat them up. The officer advised the man against that and told him to call the CAPD if he saw anything suspicious. The man said the officer could take the sign to fingerprint it or test anything he needed to on it. The officer removed the sign and cleared from the scene.

n January 8 - An officer was on patrol in the city of Abbotsford at 3:25 a.m. when he saw a vehicle traveling west on East Oak Street. The vehicle disregarded the stop sign at Oak Street and North First Street and did not make a complete stop while turning north onto North First Street. The officer then noticed the vehicle continued traveling towards his patrol car. As the vehicle went past the officer, the vehicle turned off its high beam headlights and the officer observed the vehicle to have a defective driver’s side headlight.

The officer turned around and initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle. The officer made contact with the male driver who said he was the DJ at a local bar that night. The driver then immediately asked why he was stopped. The officer asked for the man’s identification. The man searched for his identification and said he was coming from an after party. After a short time, the man stopped looking for his driver’s license. The officer asked for it again but he did not provide it.

The officer said he observed the driver to have glossy and bloodshot eyes. He also observed a strong odor of men’s cologne coming from inside the vehicle and a men’s cologne bottle on the passenger seat of the vehicle.

The officer asked the man if he had anything to drink while working as a DJ. The man said “a little” and then said “one drink, no more,” when asked how much.

The officer conducted a records check of the man which showed he had a civilly revoked driver’s license. Another officer arrived on-scene to assist.

The officer returned to the vehicle and asked the man to step out of the car. The man asked why and the officer asked the man again to step out of the vehicle. The man continued to ask why. The officer said he needed to speak with him out of his vehicle. The man continued to argue and said it was cold outside. The officer said they could go somewhere warm but the man continued to argue. The officer said he wanted to make sure the man was OK to drive but the man told him no multiple times.

The officer then attempted to open the man’s door from the exterior door handle but it was locked. The officer reached inside the vehicle and attempted to grab the door handle but the man moved the officer’s hand away. The man then grabbed the door handle and violently opened the door slamming the door into the officer. The door struck a metal item on his exterior vest and caused him to take a step back. The officer grabbed the metal frame of the door and kept it open while commanding the man to step to the rear of the vehicle and shut the door.

The man then got out of the vehicle and continued to argue while becoming belligerent. The man denied taking a field sobriety test. The officer along with the additional officer asked the man to place his hands behind his back. The man would not comply and the officers grabbed the man’s arms. The man tensed up and attempted to pull away. The officer told him to stop multiple times as the man continued to resist. Eventually, the officers placed the man in handcuffs successfully and placed him in the back of a patrol squad. The man began banging his head on the window of the vehicle so the officers opened the door and requested a Clark County Sheriff’s officer to come and transport the man as they had metal bars on their backseat windows.

A Clark County Deputy arrived and the man was placed in the rear seat of his patrol squad. The CAPD officer followed the deputy to the Clark County Jail. Upon arrival, the deputy said the man had been hitting his head on the plastic barrier throughout the trip. The officer handed the man over to jail staff without incident and completed citations for failure to stop at stop sign, operating while revoked, operating while under the influence and requested charges of battery to a law enforcement officer and resisting or obstructing an officer.

n January 8 - An officer received a phone call about a dog running at-large near Colby City Hall. The officer located the dog and the dog came towards the officer when called. The dog was friendly but had moments of being scared. The dog was then transported to the police department as it did not have any identifying tags on its collar.

A short time later, the owner of the dog called the police department. The officer met with the owner who said the dog ran away while outside. He said this was the first time the dog had run away and said the dog was currently vaccinated for rabies. The man said he normally has a different collar on the dog which would have the dog’s identifying information on it. The officer released the dog to the man and issued him a verbal warning for permitting an animal to run at-large.