Law Enforcement

n May 13 - An officer was parked near Hwy. 13 when he observed a black sedan vehicle traveling south operating without any headlights on in hours of darkness. The officer initiated a traffic stop and made contact with the male driver of the vehicle. The office observed the strong odor of marijuana while speaking to the driver. The officer asked the driver where the marijuana was located inside the vehicle. The driver handed the officer a yellow smoking pipe.

The driver said he last smoked marijuana three hours prior. The officer asked the man to exit the vehicle and conducted a search of his person. Nothing was located during the search and the officer proceeded to search the vehicle.

The officers found a folded piece of paper containing a green, leafy substance in the center console, a plastic ziploc bag containing a green, leafy substance in a lunch box on the rear seat, a silver, cylindrical container, a green/clear grinder and a brown cigarillo wrap all containing trace amounts of a green, leafy substance as well as a black digital scale all located in the center console and one additional glass smoking pipe. The officers also located several open containers of alcohol but the driver did not show any signs of impairment when the officer was speaking with him.

The driver stated the lunch box was his but he did not know the bag was in there. He said he uses the scale to measure the marijuana after he purchases it to ensure he gets the correct amount. The officer advised the passenger to drive the duo home as the driver had smoked three hours prior to the traffic stop. The officer returned to his squad and performed a records check of the driver who returned with no license issued and the vehicle was registered to him. The officer issued the driver a citation for operating without a valid license and possession of open intoxicants in a motor vehicle.

The officer then tested the items for THC back at the police department. The total amount of marijuana weighed in at 23.33 grams and the substance tested presumptively positive for THC.

The officer then mailed out additional citations of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana to the driver.

n May 20 - An officer was on routine patrol when he ran the plate of a vehicle traveling in front of him. The plate returned as suspended due to unpaid parking tickets. The officer initiated a traffic stop and met with the driver. The officer could smell the strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle and told the driver he would be conducting a probable cause search of the vehicle. The officer found a half smoked joint inside the center console, a small pill container containing a green, leafy substance located on the floor behind the driver’s seat and a half smoked joint tucked between the passenger seat and center console. The driver said all the items belong to him.

The officer tested all the items and all tested positive for marijuana. The men were released from the stop after the driver was cited for operating without a valid driver’s license, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

n May 25 - An officer was dispatched to North Division Street in Colby for a vehicle that was all over the road. The officer observed the suspect vehicle weaving from the median line to the middle, dashed line almost crossing both lines. The officer also observed several items hanging from the rear view mirror of the vehicle obstructing the driver’s view. The officer initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle and after making a couple of turns, the vehicle eventually pulled over. The male driver said he was on his way back to his apartment in Colby. While speaking to the man, the officer noticed the smell of an alcoholic intoxicant coming from the man’s breath along with slurred speech and watery or glassy eyes. The man said he was at a bar that night and said he had two shots of tequila.

The man agreed to perform field sobriety tests. After the test, the officer asked the man if he would be willing to do a preliminary breath test and the man refused. The officer placed the man under arrest for operating while under the influence (first offense) and transported the man to the police department. There, the officer issued the man a citation for operating while under the influence and operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration and also warned the man for the obstruction in the driver’s view of his vehicle. The man was then released to a sober party.

n May 27 - An officer was working in the city of Colby when he noticed a vehicle stopped at a stop sign. He noticed the vehicle had a defective driver’s side headlight. The officer activated his emergency lights and conducted a traffic stop.

The officer made contact with the driver and passengers and could smell the strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. The officer asked the driver if there was any marijuana in the vehicle and the driver responded, saying there was not. The driver then said he smoked marijuana five hours ago at his residence in Colby.

The officer returned to his squad and conducted a records check of the driver. After the check, the officer had the driver exit the vehicle and advised the driver that a probable cause search of the vehicle would be performed due to the odor of marijuana.

The passengers and driver all exited the vehicle and stood by as officers searched the vehicle. During the search, the officer found a “blunt” containing a green, leafy substance near the center console of the front passenger seat and a vape device containing a thick, yellow substance located in a purse on the front passenger floorboard. No other items were located.

The officer spoke to one of the passengers who said both of the items located in the vehicle were hers. The male driver performed field sobriety tests and was not arrested for operating while under the influence and was allowed to return to the vehicle.

The officer was called to an emergency and was not able to issue citations. Later, the officer weighed the blunt which weighed 1.5 grams. The substance inside the blunt tested presumptively positive for THC. The officer then returned to the driver and passenger’s address. The driver was issued a citation for operating a motor vehicle by permittee without an instructor and the passenger was issued a citation for possession of THC.

n May 28 - An officer was on patrol in the city of Abbotsford when he noticed a truck turn northbound on Highway 13 in front of the officer. The officer noticed the truck made an unnecessarily wide and jerky turn, almost hitting a construction cone. The truck did not initially have any lights on despite it being dark out but soon turned them on after the turn.

The officer followed the truck and noticed the vehicle swerve left and right in its lane of travel, almost hitting construction cones on multiple occasions. The officer activated his emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop but the truck made no attempt to pull over, even with multiple businesses and side roads available for the truck to do so.

The officer continued to follow the truck north, thinking that the truck would pull over after the construction zone ended near the city limits of Abbotsford. Despite the officer activating his siren, the truck continued leaving the city, increasing its speed to 55 mph.

The officer used different siren tones to get the driver’s attention and nearly three miles after initially attempting to stop the vehicle, the officer called out a pursuit to Clark County dispatch.

Upon entering Dorchester, a Clark County deputy was in the southbound lane of Hwy. 13 with his lights and siren on but the truck still made no attempt to stop. Upon entering Stetsonville, the truck was traveling approximately 50 mph in a posted 25 mph zone. During the entire pursuit, the truck was swerving in its lane of travel and crossed the center line and fog line on multiple occasions.

CAPD officers along with the Clark County deputy successfully executed a moving road block on the north end of Stetsonville and the truck was brought to a halt nearly nine miles after initiating the pursuit.

Given the nature of the stop, officers performed a high-risk stop and the officers drew their service pistols and exited their vehicles. The Clark County deputy told the driver to show the officers their hands and exit the vehicle. The truck moved forward another foot before the driver put his hands up, remaining in the vehicle with the vehicle running.

An assisting CAPD officer approached the driver’s side door and pulled the driver out of the vehicle. The reporting CAPD officer ensured there were no other occupants of the vehicle and holstered his pistol before assisting with restraining the male driver.

The officer conducted a search of the driver, finding a beer bottle cap in his pants pocket. The officer observed the strong odor of intoxicants coming from the man’s person.

The officer informed the man he was being arrested for fleeing an officer and the man gave the officers permission to move his truck to the side of the road. While moving the man’s vehicle one of the officers noticed four open and empty bottles of beer on the front, passenger floorboard. The man was transported back to the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department to perform the field sobriety tests and a preliminary breath test. The result of the PBT was 0.104.

The officer issued the man citations for operating while under the influence. The officer asked the man if he knew he was being followed by a police car with lights and sirens on. The man said he noticed about a minute into the officer following his truck but thought there was just an emergency somewhere else. The officer asked what it is drivers are supposed to do when they notice lights and sirens behind them. The man said, “Sorry, now I understand.”

The man was additionally given citations for operating without a valid license and operating with a prohibited alcohol concentration. The officer transported the man to the Marathon County Jail without incident and is requesting charges of fleeing an officer, a misdemeanor.

n May 28 - An officer took an illegal “dumping” complaint from a resident of Abbotsford. The woman said they had a detached garage that butts up to the alley at the rear of the property. The woman said the south side of the garage has gravel at the base of it and last year they found someone had defecated on their property. The complainant said it was too close to the wall to be from a dog and it was in a smaller hole that appeared to have been dug by a person.

The woman said she didn’t log the previous incident with the department and that they didn’t have any further occurrences. She said that afternoon, they were cleaning up some debris piles on their property and found that someone had defecated in that same spot three more times this year.

She said they had no idea who would be doing this and thought it may be someone from an apartment complex nearby. The woman said she spoke to the manager of the property and asked if he would speak to the tenants to see if he could make the behavior stop. The manager said there were good tenants in the residence and said they would never do anything like that before ending the call.

The woman said she realized not much could be done unless they were caught in the act but said she would try setting up a camera and just wanted the incident documented at this point. The officer said he would do some extra patrols through the area.

n May 28 - An officer met with a woman who said she had to report suspicious activity from earlier that morning. The woman said she was a sober driver for some friends at a party. She said they went to a gas station around 2:30 a.m. and then dropped off her friend in Abbotsford before going back to her residence in Colby.

The woman said when she looked in her rearview mirror before getting out, she saw that a vehicle had pulled in behind her with its lights off. She said that it was so close that when her backup camera came on, she saw a large “H” emblem and the color gray filling the whole view. When her dog came out of the house, the vehicle backed out of her driveway, turned its lights on and left.

The woman said she saw a man in the driver’s seat that appeared shorter and could barely see over the steering wheel but was unable to get a better look at the suspect. The woman said she did not know if the vehicle had been following her and was feeling uneasy about the situation. The woman said she went to the gas station and asked an employee if she could watch video to see if the vehicle had followed her from there. The employee said that she would need to have an officer view cameras.

The woman showed the officer that her Life360 app had shown she had gotten home at 2:53 a.m. and said she parked in front of the main entrance on the east side of the main doors of the gas station.

The officer went to the gas station and checked the cameras. At 2:36 a.m., the woman’s vehicle enters the parking lot and parks where she described. Her vehicle leaves the parking lot at 2:40 along with a dark SUV but no other cars matching the description leave the parking lot during that time until 2:53 a.m. when she was already home. The officer called the woman to report his findings and told her to report any other suspicious activity in the future.