Law roundup: The customer is not always right
Store employees phoned the Kalispell Police Department after a customer began threatening other patrons and subsequently refused to leave the business. As they asked officers to move the man along and ban him from the property, the irate customer started knocking items off of shelves and trying to fight the workers. He allegedly hit one of them before the authorities arrived. The man ended his shopping trip in the county jail.
Hearing a woman scream "get out of my van" while in a parking lot, a passerby phoned the police. They told officers that the woman was standing by a white van, yelling "Help" and "Get this man out of my van." Arriving officers spoke to both the woman and the man, learning that the commotion grew out of an argument.
An employee asked to speak with the police about money disappearing from the company's bank account. They accused a man of stealing it, though they later acknowledged he had access to the bank account.
Officers checked in on two men wearing high visibility vests working on the underside of a bridge on the U.S. 93 Bypass after a passerby reported them as suspicious.
After someone damaged her phone, a woman turned up at the Police Department looking for advice. They offered video of the incident but agreed to try and work the problem out or pursue it in small claims court.
Trying to track down the owner of a vehicle abandoned in a parking lot, officers used the license plates to contact a previous owner. He told them that he neglected to remove the plates when he sold it.
At the behest of a neighbor, authorities tried to find a dog that had been seen wandering a field. The neighbor described the animal as skittish and was worried about it given the cold weather. Officers were unable to locate the shepherd mix.
Convinced by a scam artist that they had a warrant out for their arrest, a resident forked over $1,000 in gift cards to clear up the matter.