Blotter Fodder/Commentary: Further proof no good deed goes unpunished
Items in this column are pulled from police logs from around the region.
A man who was given a ride on a cold night by a Lewiston police officer repaid the cop by stealing the badge off his jacket that hung from a hook in the back seat. When the officer realized it, he found the man, who sheepishly returned the badge. He was charged with petit theft and taken to jail.
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A woman in Clarkston reported a raucous, drunken party with youth like banshees carrying on, drinking, shouting and laughing loudly, she said. Police showed up at the church youth group's gathering and told the teens to pipe down.
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A person crouching behind a Dumpster in a Pullman alley was reported to police. The employee was crushing boxes, cops learned.
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Some kids in the Clarkston Heights made a cardboard cutout of a dog and put it in the road, where it slowed down cars and ticked-off motorists.
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A man in Asotin County was in his pickup truck whipping brodies in his field, over and over, round and round next to his penned horses. A neighbor watched this for a while before calling deputies. "It's his property," the caller said. "But he seems to be out of control."
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Lewiston police received a call from a person who wanted information about a murder in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. The caller didn't know when the murder had occurred, who was killed, how it happened or where.
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An iron safe was found in Lewiston. Its hinges had been cut off. Inside was a pay stub.
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Two-hundred pounds of moose meat was stolen from a freezer at a Lewiston residence.
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Lewiston police were summoned to a pickup truck parked in the middle of the road at night without lights at the edge of the cops' jurisdiction, or, way out there, as an officer said. When they knocked on the window a man got out. Inside was a pellet gun that resembled a large-caliber handgun, hypodermic needles and a set of brass knuckles. The needles were destroyed, the brass knuckles were confiscated and the man was issued a warning not to park in the road.
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A man in a dirty, white camouflage jacket and white hoodie didn't consider just how unwieldy a shopping cart full of Albertsons' groceries is when he pushed it out the door of the store without paying. He was chased, left the cart and dropped his cellphone, which was turned over to police. An accomplice was found waiting in a running car.
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Strange noises coming from a vacant Moscow apartment were reported to police.
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A paw was found at the Asotin slough. Deputies speculated it may have been a dog's paw, but couldn't tell because it had been chewed on. It was sent to the Fish and Wildlife department.
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A box suspiciously lying in a Pullman street was reported to police. Cops said the box fell out of a truck heading to a recycle bin.
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In Lewiston a man ate two apples at Rosauers valued at $5 without paying for them. He left the store, lost his billfold in the parking lot, lay a hypodermic kit on the hood of his car, and tried breaking into the vehicle using a coat hanger like a slim Jim, when police arrived. He was arrested for petit theft, and having drugs sans prescription.
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A man in Moscow accidentally bumped the button of an elevator alarm.
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A manhole cover was stolen in Pullman. It was found down the road a ways.
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Bartholdt can be contacted at rbartholdt@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2275.
