Police Blotter
January 24-26, 2020
Welcome to Monday, Jackson. We were pretty busy over the weekend with 102 calls for service. Actually, now that we are thinking about it and you split that number into three days we’re averaging about 30 calls per day. Even so, we took a few report calls you will find interesting.
On to the blotter!
20012197: On January 24, 2020, at about 8:56 a.m., Sgt. Matthews responded to a report of a Collision Hit & Run. The victim reported they were in the turn lane waiting to make a turn when another vehicle side swiped their vehicle, damaging the mirror. Rather than stop the way they were supposed to, the suspect sped off. It looks like the victim was able to provide some additional information later on to RO White and there is a good chance we will be able to track down the suspect vehicle. If it was you and you’re reading this, please just come talk to us. We don’t bite, we promise. In fact, we’ll probably be really nice, even if we end up having to write you a ticket.
20012223: On January 24, 2020, at about 11:51 a.m., Corporal Jones and Officer Mattson responded to a report of a Domestic Disturbance between a father and son-in-law. They arrived on scene and began their investigation. This involves separating the persons involved to determine who the, “primary aggressor” was. What does that mean? It’s the person mostly responsible for the violence that took place. It’s not necessarily who started it, but generally the person who did the most damage. It can be difficult to determine as it was in this case. Ultimately, Corporal Jones and Officer Mattson weren’t able to determine which of them it was, so separated the parties for the night until calmer heads could prevail.
20012270: On January 24, 2020, at about 8:07 p.m., Officer Gerlach responded to a report of Trespassing. Once arriving, he learned the person’s involved had an argument over laundry use that became hostile. Hostile enough one of he men was asked to leave the property. It seems like a small thing, but if it’s your laundry facility it’s pretty darn important. Officer Gerlach spoke to the man and issued him a warning that he was not to return to the property or risk being arrested. Thinking the matter resolved, Officer Gerlach went about his day, but was called back a little over an hour later because the man had returned despite the warning. Officer Gerlach had to arrest the 47 year old SLC, UT man for trespassing. Why would he do this? He told Officer Gerlach he didn’t have any place else to go and thought jail was the best place for him to be. We’re not sure about that, but he made a deliberate choice to violate the law and we were obligated to take action on the victim’s behalf.
20012282: So if you think you might have a warrant or other unfinished business with the court, you shouldn’t strike up a conversation with a police officer who might remember your name. On January, 24, 2020, at about 10:35 p.m., that’s exactly what happened to Sgt. Ruschill and Officer O’Donnell. Remembering the man, they confirmed he had an municipal court warrant for failing to appear on a previous a Public Intoxication charge. Yes, we arrested the 41 year old Jackson man, but instead of having him booked, we let him pay the bond and then put him back where we found him, in the area of the Rose.
20012297: On January 25, 2020, at about 1:23 a.m., Cpl. C. Smith stopped a vehicle for several things: speeding 34/25, stopping for a flashing yellow light, and a couple of lane violations that caused it to hit a snow bank. He stopped the vehicle and found the driver to be under the influence of alcohol. He did some field sobriety testing and the man did poorly, followed by a portable breath test that resulted in a reading of .22%. That would explain the bad driving. Officer C. Smith arrested the 26 year old Santa Barbara, CA man for DUI. To clear up any confusion on the matter, yes, we actively hunt drunk drivers. We will take advantage of every legal means at our disposal to identify and arrest those people. We don’t apologize for it.
20012372: On January 25, 2020, at about 4:51 p.m., RO White was dispatched to something other than a Collision Hit & Run. Finally. For those that don’t know, RO White has been taking an endless stream of Collision Hit & Run calls. It was reported that an intoxicated man had fallen on the start bus and was unable to get up. She arrived and made contact with the man, who she found was so drunk to have wet himself. It’s not fun handling people in that condition, but we carry a pocket full of gloves with us everywhere we go just for these occasions. RO White ended up arresting the 26 year old Jackson man for Public Intoxication. His portable breath test was a .30%, so we had him medically evaluated before taking him to the jail.
20012387: Collision Hit & Run. The report isn’t finished yet, we we don’t have any information for you.
20012393: On January 25, 2020, at about 9:51 p.m., Cpl. Traphagan responded to a report of an intoxicated female in the parking lot of the jail. That’s convenient. What he learned upon arrival was that the woman was put into an Uber by some friends, who provided the driver with an address. As it turned out, the address was for the Stage Coach Bar in Wilson. That’s less than helpful. The woman was so intoxicated and incoherent, the driver didn’t feel comfortable leaving her at the bar and brought her to the jail parking lot for assistance. Good call. Kudos to the Uber driver for doing the right thing. Cpl. Traphagan and other officers attempted to assist, but the woman could barely say her own name. They noted she had an injury to her arm and attempted to assist, but the woman became hostile and combative with officers, then to the EMTs, and then to hospital staff. After treatment, we arrested the 44 year old Wilson, WY woman for Public Intoxication. We would like to recommend that if you have a friend who needs to go home in a cab, that you make sure they are sober enough to do so alone. If they’re not, be a good friend and go with them to make sure they get there safely. We applaud this woman’s friends for trying, but there is room for improvement.
20012430: On January 26, 2020, at about 11:17 a.m., RO White was dispatched to a report of a possible drunk driver. We would like to take this opportunity to give a big shout out to whomever called this in. Thank you for pointing us to where we need to be. When we arrived, the driver had already made it to his apartment. However, driving drunk isn’t a big game of tag with your home being “base” where you can’t be arrested. We can absolutely arrest you out of your home if we can develop probable cause to do so, which is exactly what we did with this 54 year old Jackson man after he performed poorly on his field sobriety tests. His portable breath test was a .16%. That’s twice the legal limit. We encourage everyone to call if they see a drunk driver. None of us want to share the road with them.
That it from the weekend. We were pretty busy. Please enjoy your week and stay out of trouble.