Snow hinders drivers
Agencies across Flathead Valley were kept busy responding to crashes due to severe winter weather.
The Kalispell Fire Department, Montana Highway Patrol, Whitefish Police Department, Coram-West Glacier Fire Department, West Valley Fire Department, Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, Kalispell Police Department, Marion Fire Department, Somers-Lakeside Fire Department, Evergreen Fire Department, Bad Rock Fire Department and Columbia Falls Police Department responded to a total of 33 accidents between 12:52 p.m. Friday and 2:35 a.m. Saturday.
The Kalispell Police Department responded to 16 of the accidents.
In addition, the Bigfork Fire Department, Marion Fire Department and Whitefish Fire Department provided traffic control at three locations between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday.
Law enforcement officers with the Whitefish Police Department, Kalispell Police Department and Montana Highway Patrol initially gave up a chase and were later unable to locate a motorist who would not stop on U.S. 93. At one point the vehicle was traveling at 100 miles per hour and later was seen swerving in and out of lanes of traffic.
Kalispell Police Department officers responded to a bar on Woodland Drive where a drunk man was trying to start a fight with the manager. A pair of witnesses held the man down until officers arrived.
Three boys approximately 10 years old were reported running through the intersection of Fifth Avenue West and 10th Street West in front of vehicles and hitting them with their hands.
Angry motorists flipping people off, driving erratically, chasing other vehicles and trying to ram other vehicles were reported on East Idaho Street and North Main Street.
A car full of drunk girls was reported on First Avenue East North. The vehicle was later reported at an Idaho Street gas station, where a passerby saw an open container inside.
A man reported someone took his cell phone and used it to threaten people on his contacts list.
A possible theft from a veterans’ fundraiser on North Main Street was reported.
A man was arrested after running his car into a plow truck on Three Mile Drive.
A motorist was reported spinning brodies on Hutton Ranch Road.
A Third Avenue West North man reported his 17-year-old son stole his pain medication.
A Third Street West home was burglarized and a Sony PlayStation 3 video game system stolen.
A man was cited for theft and released after being caught trying to steal from a Hutton Ranch Road store.
A possibly homeless man with a skateboard who had been panhandling outside a U.S. 93 North business was reported for threatening people.
A motorist was arrested during a traffic stop on U.S. 2 East.
A pair of Empire Loop renters stole the washer and dryer when they moved out.
A man was reported looking in car windows on Grandview Drive.
An employee of a Third Avenue East North business found a bag in the parking lot with drugs in it.
A wallet was stolen on Eighth Avenue West.
Rings were stolen on Conway Drive.
Several reports of people checking out vehicles were called in to the Whitefish Police Department from Mountain Park Drive.
A Somers Avenue woman called to speak with an officer about someone exposing themselves in her neighborhood.
An iPod was stolen from a vehicle on Fairway Drive
The Columbia Falls Police Department responded to a bar on Nucleus Avenue after a 24-year-old woman was reported unconscious on the dance floor, breathing too shallowly to be normal. A dispatcher tried to get the caller to perform CPR on the woman, but no one would let the caller get near her.
A 13-year-old girl was arrested and transported to the Flathead Juvenile Detention Center after threatening to stab her mother with a knife at their North Hilltop Road home. After stabbing the couch, the girl left the knife, grabbed a shelving bracket and left the home. She was detained after being located.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies “arrested” a person during a theft training exercise at a grocery store.
The Polson Police Department investigated an assault in the Dixon area.