Law roundup: Reports of killer clowns unmasked
The Columbia Falls Police Department was tasked with tracking down a posse of clowns after a caller reported seeing a troupe of jesters armed with baseball bats. It didn’t take long for officers to find the merry band, made up of three men and two women all in their 20s. They were headed to a Halloween party. One of the men had a cane, adorned with a skull, which he was using for a bad knee. There were no baseball bats.
Officers cruised Nucleus Avenue for a report of people shouting and a thumping bass line, but heard nothing.
A motorist heading up Railroad Street reported a swerving vehicle.
A gray BMW was spotted running a red light in the county and heading toward Columbia Falls in a reckless manner.
After his ex hacked his Facebook account, a man turned to the police for help. He said his former flame, based now in Miles City, was sending messages using his account. Officers advised him on how to take out a temporary restraining order.
Finding a misplaced credit card near a construction site, a resident gave it to the police for safekeeping.
A supermarket manager phoned the police over a group of kids “raising hell” in the store’s parking lot. Authorities found four boys riding bicycles and e-bikes, all of them surprised that their behavior had apparently reached the level of police involvement. But an officer noted that the group performed wheelies on their way out of the parking lot. Apparently, it wasn’t their first run-in with the police that night. An officer spotted them earlier near Ninth Street West and described them as riding carefully and staying off of the main roads. The officer stopped at the time to remind them of the curfew, which was still a few hours off.
Employees of a cannabis dispensary wanted to learn best practices for verifying customer IDs from the police.
Officers found a very skinny and intact German shepherd mix lacking a collar on Sixth Street. The dog was later taken to the Flathead County Animal Shelter.
The owner of a new vehicle wanted to know how long they could drive it without license plates.
Officers spoke with the owner of a vehicle left parked on the section of the curb painted yellow. It turns out that hazard lights do not absolve motorists from parking restrictions.
A parent phoned the police after their son, who was at a football game in Ronan, returned to his car to find it vandalized. Apparently one or more tricksters decorated it with foodstuffs. The parent suspected friends or perhaps an ex-girlfriend. As there was no damage, officers deemed it not rising to the level of criminal mischief.
An 18-year-old who was kicked out of the family home by a parent called police looking for help. He said he had no place to go.
Three girls caught learning to ride a unicycle just shy of midnight on B Street got a talking to from officers, who reminded them of the city curfew.