Law roundup: Vigilante takes parking enforcement into his own hands

A wannabe parking attendant got counseled by Kalispell Police officers after he confronted another motorist over her parking. She turned to the authorities for help as she waited for a store to open for the day, saying he had become angry with her and had parked and parked again several times around her vehicle. Describing herself as seven months pregnant, she said she didn't want to go into the store only to come out and face the man again. After speaking with the vigilante parking attendant, arriving officers let the woman know that she had not parked in a real parking spot. 

A black Labrador retriever without a collar was running around near a school.  

A thief made off with a black Trek Remedy 8, stealing the bicycle from the back of a truck on Third Avenue East North. The owner estimated the bike's value at between $500 and $1,000.  

Discovering that someone had struck her parked 2019 Subaru and taken off without reporting it, the owner did a little sleuthing on her own. Using surveillance footage, she determined that a hotel guest had backed into the car. She dug up the records for the hotel guest and passed that information along to the police. She later told authorities that the guest had been trying to call her, but she hadn't answered as she had already reported it as a hit-and-run. Officers directed her to call him back and exchange insurance information.  

Suspecting someone was dealing drugs out of a vehicle near Flathead High School, a passerby alerted the police. The vehicle was gone when officers arrived.  

Tired of watching the driver of a turquoise Honda Pilot speeding and littering, a resident near Flathead High School involved the police. They suspected the motorist was a student and said they had already informed a student resource officer about the hot-dogging litterbug. But the student resource officer determined that the driver was not enrolled at the high school, making it difficult for them to issue citations. No one so far had been willing to sign a statement about the motorist’s reckless driving either, they said. 

Conducting a traffic stop, an officer learned that the vehicle's registration had expired and the driver lacked insurance. The officer told the motorist to park the vehicle there until they got the paperwork sorted out.