Law roundup: Amateur lawyer tries loophole to get impounded car back

An amateur lawyer looking to get his vehicle back from the tow yard contacted the Columbia Falls Police Department to plead his case. The vehicle was towed a few days earlier following a traffic stop, he said. But he made sure to pull off the road and onto someone else’s private property. Telling officers he had researched the laws online, he posited that vehicles cannot be towed off of private property. He also noted he did not have the cash to see the vehicle released.

Officers assisted a homeowner with getting the eviction process started for a tenant who refused to leave. 

A lost wallet was reunited with its owner. 

A shopper spotted another customer stooping over to pick up what looked like a woman’s coin purse in the parking lot. Believing it wasn’t his, she expected him to bring it into the grocery store and turn it over to employees. When he didn’t, she phoned the police. Officers explained that they didn’t have any reports of property lost at that store and subsequently no victim in the case. They also mused that the item might have belonged to the man. In any event, they said they could look into it further if someone called regarding a missing coin purse. She said she was doubly disappointed by the man’s actions given the holiday season.

A motorist approached an officer asking if the department could send over a K9 unit to sniff his black Mercedes. He said he bought it at a police auction in California and suspected it had once transported drugs. Officers redirected his request to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. 

A U.S. 2 pharmacist reported receiving a fraudulent prescription. Officers subsequently detained and transported one individual to the county jail. 

Worried that someone was surreptitiously borrowing her car, a woman phoned the police looking for help. For the past five years, she said she had noticed the gas tanking emptying more quickly than it should. She also routinely found the vehicle covered in animal fur even though she never put her pets in it. 

Spotting two high school freshmen riding allegedly recklessly in a side-by-side on 11th Avenue, a resident phoned the authorities and told them that they knew the pair of teenagers lacked driver’s licenses. Officers tracked down the duo and met with their father, who explained he was teaching the boys how to drive.