Law roundup: Put that in your pipe and smoke it

A caller thought he was watching a man sitting on a park bench doing drugs. The caller, who lived nearby, told the Kalispell Police Department that the man likely was smoking meth or crack from a pipe. Adding to his suspicion, the man sat beside a small pill bottle. He told dispatchers that he had taken photos of the alleged drug use.

But when officers arrived they learned the man was smoking tobacco from the pipe. The bottle of pills actually contained tobacco. Following the investigation, officers updated the caller, who thanked them for a speedy response.

A woman squatting inside a camper with her pet called police after the vehicle’s owner threatened to shoot her dog. The woman said she used to work for the camper’s owner, but had since been fired. Arriving officers separated the two and the woman agreed to move along soon after.

Someone was beating their dog behind a local big box retailer. The person who reported it said they caught it all on camera and warned that they were very close to stepping in and rescuing the animal.

A man asked to leave a store got as far as the front door, but turned around and began banging on the doors. Employees phoned police looking for help, but the man left shortly thereafter.

Someone spotted a man walking down Main Street screaming at another man. He later began yelling at a tourist.

At the behest of a local mother, officers sent a group of children home after they were caught jumping in and playing around hay bales near an area school. Police learned of the impromptu playground after a third-party phoned in a report of young teenagers breaking hay bales in the area. The kids denied purposefully breaking the bales, but admitted playing in the field and said that one of their party had fallen into a bale.

A would-be handyman got on the nerves of a homeowner, who told police that the man had been by twice to offer to inspect his roof for hail damage. During the interactions, the handyman had refused to leave the property until the homeowner threatened to call the authorities and at one point tried to get on his roof using a ladder. The homeowner asked that police step up patrols and agreed to contact the department if the man showed up again.

Officers defused a domestic disturbance apparently by facilitating the exchange of a pair of pants. The dispute began with a phone call from a local father, who told police that his daughter was “super drunk” and had locked him out of his house. Meanwhile, the daughter told police that her father had shoved her — he denied the allegation — and that he’d returned with her uncle to try and get into the house. She confirmed the house was locked, but said her father had a key and she was holding the door shut.

During all of this, her father accused her of being not only drunk, but high. His daughter, though, told officers she was tired and didn’t “want to deal with this.”

Arriving officers spoke with both father and daughter. They brokered a deal wherein the father agreed to leave if he was allowed a pair of pants. The daughter obliged and her father left.

A smoke break at an area restaurant nearly turned into a family feud. A caller told police that his aunt called him rude for leaving the eatery to take a smoke. She then threatened to punch him in the face “if he didn’t shut up.”

A property owner contacted authorities after spotting two people hanging out in a vehicle on his land via surveillance camera. He said the pair had been there about four hours and wanted them to leave. Officers determined the duo had run out of gas.

Kids drag racing down a local street prompted a call to the police department. A nearby resident told officers that the would-be race car drivers were practicing in the parking lot of a local school. He worried they were doing drugs and might be inclined to vandalize the area. He also complained about the amount of litter that popped up in the area during the school year. Officials agreed to run an extra patrol through the neighborhood.

Police were called to Three Mile Drive for a report of racing motorcycles. The caller told officers that the bikers came back each night about 9 p.m. and make two or three passes, occasionally popping wheelies.

Confronted, a group of apparent speed demons began harassing a resident who had asked them to stop drag racing down their street. The group, composed of three pickup trucks, then followed the resident for a while. The resident was able to take down one license plate number and turned it over to authorities.

Someone wanted police to check out a biker who rode through the neighborhood each day on a motorcycle with broken headlights and no license plate. Responding officers could only find one motorcycle in the neighborhood and that was outfitted with a license plate.

A motorist told officers she almost hit a teenager walking in the road. She said she swerved to avoid the collision. Responding officers located two men, slightly drunk, walking home. They agreed to stay on the shoulder.