Law roundup: Motorist loses race with a rat
A cat-sized rat startled a Kalispell motorist, who spotted it running up the middle of the road and into a cluster of nearby shrubs. The brazen nature of the rat — the sighting occurred in daylight — left the motorist worried it was possibly rabid. Attempts to solve the problem by running the rat over proved unsuccessful, the motorist told the Kalispell Police Department.
Arriving to find a broken window at their job site, a local employee asked authorities to come take a look. While they wanted to clean up the mess, they suspected the culprits shot it out with a gun.
The victims of a house fire asked officers for help in tracking down two dogs that had gone missing in the blaze, a Belgian malinois and Boston terrier.
Officers responded to multiple calls regarding an older woman struggling to walk and out in public with very little clothing. Authorities eventually found the woman, who did not want help from the police, and moved her along. Officers were asked to check in with her again after she was spotted stumbling around an area park in a grayish robe.
A woman reported losing her wallet, which contained all of her cards, while running errands in Kalispell. She checked multiple locations without success before turning to the police for help.
Spotting three people walking in the street and yelling at drivers, a passerby confronted them and told them to get out of the roadway. The trio cussed out the passerby in reply. Responding officers were unable to locate the three individuals.
Police headed to a local park to assist a woman upset because the pavilion she rented had been left trashed. She told officers she reported it because she paid to reserve it. She also sought help in raising the Parks and Recreation Department to have it cleaned. She suspected several of the canisters left in the building contained drugs. Officers helped the woman clean up the debris. They also returned some of the property to a man and woman in the area and asked them to stay away from the pavilion.
Officers met with a person who claimed a man with white hair and a white beard threatened to drop their butt. The white-haired man was gone by the time authorities arrived.
Returning to her vehicle in a parking lot, a woman discovered the BMW emblem peeled off and called authorities. She suspected a person in a nearby white van might have had something to do with it. When she asked a woman inside the van if she saw anyone damage the BMW, the woman began acting strangely. The van left after the woman threatened to call the police. Ultimately, though, the owner of the BMW couldn’t say whether the white van had anything to do with the missing emblem.