Police Blotter
December 13-15, 2019
Did everyone see Officer Raab's rap video? It was great, wasn't it? We have a great group of officers and staff working for the Jackson Police Department and they all have a unique set of skills and talents. It's hard to see past the uniform sometimes to the person underneath, but one of the goals of our Police Blotter is for you to get to know them a little bit better.
Here is what we did over the weekend.
19121059: On December 13, 2019, at about 1:31 a.m., Officer Figueroa was patrolling in the area of West Snow King near South Flat Creek when he saw a man riding his bicycle in the middle of the road without the use of any lights or reflector. Officer Figueroa normally works as a detective during the week, but we were a little shorthanded on this particular night, so he volunteered to fill in. Team work! That's what we're talking about. Anyway, besides driving down the middle of a darkened roadway without any lights, the man Officer Figueroa saw was swerving all over the place. Can we all agree this wasn't safe? Officer Figueroa thought so and made a traffic stop on the man. During their conversation, he asked the man about who the bike belonged to. The man said he did not steal the bike but "borrowed" it. Officer Figueroa asked the man who he borrowed the bike from and the man said he did not know. Are we all thinking the same thing here? The man said he located the bike in the area of the Snake River Brew Pub. He said the bike was not secured with a bike lock, and he took it so he could get home quickly. Officer Figueroa tried to explain to the man that this is called stealing, but man assured him it was not because he did not intend to own the bike. We're not sure how that explanation is going to fly in court, but we'll see. In the meantime, Officer Figueroa arrested the 60 year old Jackson man for theft. We are actually still attempting to locate the owner of the bike, so if you had one stolen from the Brew Pub or that area, please give us a call.
19121064: On December 13, 2019, at about 4:17 a.m., Corporal P. Smith responded to a report of Found Property at Kmart. If you are missed an Iphone, we might have it. Give us a call.
19121139: On December 13, 2019, at about 9:08 p.m., Sgt. Ruschill and Officer Proctor responded to a report of a death. Every call like this is investigated thoroughly until we are sure there is nothing suspicious about the circumstances. Sgt. Ruschill has been doing this job a long time and knows what needs done. In this particular circumstance, nothing appears suspicious, but we will let the final determination as to the cause of the death come from the coroner.
19121147: On December 13, 2019, at about 10:37 p.m., Officer C. Smith stopped a vehicle for driving around without headlights. That's not safe and there wasn't much surprise when he contacted the driver and found that he appeared under the influence of alcohol. The man denied consuming any alcohol, but once again beer breath gave him away and Officer C. Smith wasn't fooled. Before doing the field sobriety testing, he had to remove the large knife sheathed on the man's right hip. We encounter people with weapons all the time. Usually, it's not a big deal, we just need to temporarily separate the person from the weapon while we're doing business as we did in this case. The man did poorly on his field sobriety testing and the 22 year old Moose, WY man was arrested for DUI. He can have his knife back when he gets out of jail.
19121153: On December 13, 2019, at about 11:16 p.m., Sgt. Ruschill was at the Cowboy Bar doing a bar check. We like to do those several times a night to make sure everything is running smoothly and to let everyone know we're paying attention. It seems to keep the shenanigans to a minimum. While doing his bar check, Sgt. Ruschill noted a member of the staff in a physical confrontation with a patron. The staff member asked him to assist and being the helpful person that he is, went over to see what he could do. The patron, a very intoxicated female, had apparently refused to leave after she'd drank too much and thrown up in the bathroom. It's probably time to call it quits when you get to that point, but the woman didn't see it that way and wanted to stay, even after she was asked to leave. That being the case, Sgt. Ruschill had to arrest the 25 year old Jackson, WY woman for Criminal Trespassing. She also happened to be on release orders from the Teton Count Circuit Court and wasn't supposed to be drinking at all. Sounds like she will have some explaining to do.
19121239: On December 14, 2019, at about 8:49 p.m., Officers Osmond and C. Smith responded to a report of a drunk driver. They located the vehicle in the Wendy's parking lot and then watched it make a turn without using it's turn signal. When they contacted the driver, they found he was intoxicated. That's not always the case. Sometimes drivers are just so excited to see the Tetons they can't keep it between the lines. Not in this case. He did poorly on his field sobriety testing and provided a portable breath test with a result of .18%. Faced with that information, the officers felt the right thing to do was to arrest the 29 year old Jackson man for DUI. A big "Thank you" to the person or persons who call this in. Who knows what would have happened if this man hadn't been caught. None of us want to share the road with a drunk driver.
19121255: On December 15, 2019, at about 1:58 a.m., Cpl. Traphagan noticed a vehicle driving down the road that seemed to be having trouble maintaining its lane. When the vehicle finally made a lane change without signaling, he thought it was a good idea to stop it and have a conversation with the driver. Cpl. Traphagan walked up to the door and found a very young male at the wheel. Fourteen years old to be exact, with a car full of juveniles of comparable age. The driver had a learners permit, but it wasn't good for him to be driving where, when and with whom he was, (was that grammatically correct? We're not sure). Anyway, Cpl. Traphagan did what any good cop would do and called the driver's parent, who was not aware the juvenile had taken the car. Ultimately, the 14 year old juvenile was cited for not having a valid driver's license and Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle and then released to a parent. Parents for the rest of the juveniles were contacted as well. Hope they learned a lesson. Time will tell.
That's it from the weekend, Jackson. Have a great week!
