Law roundup: Mustang bears brunt of collision with bruin

Bearing the brunt of a collision with a bruin on Railroad Street, a white Ford Mustang was left with heavy front-end damage. Officers with the Columbia Falls Police Department found the disabled muscle car with little trouble, but the bear had vanished. A witness thought the bear might have suffered some injuries as the Mustang “hit pretty hard.”

A liquor store employee phoned the police after discovering they might have unwillingly aided in a statewide scam. The worker told officers two men bought $3,000 worth of top shelf liquor. The pair instructed the clerk to enter their credit card information manually. This, the employee said, prevented the card from coming back immediately as declined. The two men reportedly matched the description of two people running the scam all over the state.

A man dropped into the lobby of the police station to pick up his wife’s bicycle.

A landlord phoned authorities after his tenants refused to leave. The property they were renting apparently had been sold. Officers gave the landlord contact information for the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office civil bureau.

Officers answered a caller’s questions about concealed carry permits.

A supermarket employee alerted the police to an injured deer in the westbound lane of traffic. The worker said a customer had told them about the deer and said it had been struck by a motorist. The motorist reportedly never stopped. The deer was later removed from the roadway.

Using a cellphone as a flashlight, someone accidentally called emergency services.

Officers were alerted to a possibly abandoned vehicle blocking a dumpster behind a condo building. The car had been parked there for several days.

A spat over a computer ended up briefly in front of the police. The individual who contacted authorities said he had loaned the computer to his son and now his ex was refusing to return it. The ex described the computer as a gift. Officers pointed the pair in the direction of civil court.

Officers reminded the operator of a mini dirt bike found near 13th Street to keep it off the roadway.

Officers headed to the basketball courts after receiving reports of a group of teens pulling the fence out with their bare hands. The youths reportedly hopped into a black truck before the police arrived at the courts. Officers noted that it appeared as though the teenagers just took the door off the hinges. The door was later restored.

Authorities headed to 12th Avenue for a report of suspicious activity. A man and a woman were reportedly hanging out in the middle of the road and acting strangely. Officers learned that the pair were cleaning out their vehicles.