Law Enforcement

n January 16 - An officer was dispatched to a residence in Colby for a complaint. The officer met with a man who said the property owners across the alley had been driving onto his property to load their snowmobiles up. The man said he has spoken with the owners of the property in the past but it has not made a difference. The officer took pictures of the tracks and uploaded them to the case.

The officer then attempted to make contact with the owners of the property but was unable to. The officer said he would attempt to make contact with the residents in the near future.

n January 20 - An officer was dispatched to the intersection of South Division Street and East Lincoln Street in Colby for a traffic accident. The officer was notified the vehicle and driver were no longer onscene as they left their name and phone number to contact them.

The officer arrived and noticed the vehicle appeared to be driving northbound on South Division Street. The driver’s side tires of the vehicle drove onto the median of South Division Street striking a yellow traffic sign. The vehicle then appeared to drive back onto South Division Street and continued to drive northbound.

The officer made contact with the driver who said she had to go to the bathroom very bad and looked eastbound at the Cenex gas station in Colby. She said once she looked back to see where she was driving, she had struck a yellow traffic sign with the front, driver’s side of her vehicle. She then continued to drive to her residence.

The woman said she could not contact law enforcement right away as her phone had died. The woman said it’s hard to tell if any damage was done to her vehicle as she had struck a deer several weeks ago and already had a significant amount of damage to the front of her vehicle.

The officer informed the woman to stay in the city next time she crashes into something as the woman had passed several gas stations with phones in them to contact law enforcement. The officer requested the woman email him a list of damage to her vehicle she thought could be from hitting the sign. She said she would and the officer took pictures of the traffic sign to be uploaded to the case.

n January 20 - An officer was dispatched to a local business in reference to a dispute with service payment.

The officer met with the caller who told the officer he brought his truck in to get worked on. He said the bill was for just over $5,000. The man said he was contracted through another company that paid for his repairs and usually was able to pay over the phone by their company credit card.

The man said this time, the company said they could not take credit card payment over the phone. The officer spoke with the employee who said the man’s contract company needed to fill out a credit card authorization form with a photo ID before they could accept credit card payment over the phone.

The man was upset as the company had previously accepted payment and did not know why they needed another form to be filled out. The man said that the contract company then used a type of cashier’s check with a special code to pay for the repairs. The checks were only able to be made out to $1,000 and after receiving four checks, something flagged the payments and the company could no longer cash the final check.

The man was furious and ready to take the truck without paying for the remaining $1,000. The contract company refused to provide a photo ID and could not pay over the phone. The man said he could pay for it and be reimbursed but he had been out money by doing that in the past and refused to try again.

Eventually, the man paid for the outstanding bill with his personal payment method and left.

n January 21 - An officer was working in the City of Abbotsford traveling behind a white vehicle. A records check showed the registered owner had a revoked driver’s license. The officer also observed a pine tree air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.

The officer conducted a traffic stop and made contact with the male driver and female passenger. The officer was speaking with the driver when K9 Officer Dodge arrived onscene and was deployed to the vehicle.

The officer ran the driver’s information through dispatch and it confirmed that the driver had a criminally revoked driver’s license. The officer was also advised that the man was on an open Clark County bail bond for operating while revoked. He was not to drive unless in possession of a valid Wisconsin driver’s license according to the bond conditions.

During that time, K9 Dodge alerted to the vehicle and the officer asked the man and woman to exit the vehicle. Both persons were searched and nothing was found of evidentiary value. The officers conducted a probable cause search of the vehicle. Near the center console, a plastic bag was found which contained a small piece of a white straw. Inside the straw was a white, crystalline residue. A longer red straw was also located inside the plastic bag. The red straw also had a white, crystalline residue inside of it. No other items of contraband were located inside of the vehicle.

The officer had both the driver and passenger return to the vehicle and advised the man that if the straws tested positive for methamphetamine, he would receive a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia. The officer was having troubles with his squad printer so he said he would be mailing the man a citation for operating while revoked.

The officer advised the man of his bail bond conditions through Clark County and informed him a charge for misdemeanor bail jumping would be referred to the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office.

While back at the police department, the straws tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine and a citation was mailed to the man.

n January 22 - An officer was dispatched to the overpass of Highway 29 where a caller stated a dog was injured. Dispatch indicated the dog had jumped from the overpass onto the highway below.

The officer arrived and observed a vehicle with its hazard lights on. Next to the vehicle was a dog with a collar that the officer had recognized as he had found the dog at-large in the city of Abbotsford two weeks ago.

The dog was unable to put any pressure on its rear right leg but other than that, seemed to be relatively healthy. The officer secured the dog and transported it to the police department. Dispatch advised that a person had called wondering if anyone had found his dog. The officer called the owner and the dog was reunited with its owner. The owner was warned for a dog at-large and was notified of the dog’s injuries.