DUI emphasis made for a busy night

Last week was a DUI emphasis, and Officer Steven Forbragd started the evening off by stopping a car for weaving in the traffic lane.

The man was clearly intoxicated, and explained that he had just been at the laundromat. The officers noted that the man later clarified that the laundromat was next door to a busy East Bremerton bar.

Later that same night, the same officer stopped a speeding car whose driver turned out to be legally drunk. When the officer asked the driver for his registration, a handgun was seen when the man opened his glove box.

He explained that he was a legal Concealed Pistol License holder, but he “forgot” he had the gun in there. His memory may have been affected by his being a .13 blood-alcohol content, and he was arrested for DUI.

Three other intoxicated drivers were arrested that same night.

The prize for losing: new pants

Later in the week, Sgt. Aaron Elton got to play a game experienced officers have played many times: the “I know the law better than you” game.

Sgt. Elton took a call of a suspicious vehicle on Ninth Street. While in the area and talking with the residents, he saw a car pass by a few times and circle the area. He had seen that same car making a suspicious U-turn in the street on the way to the call. He later found the car in a fast food restaurant parking lot.

Sgt. Elton approached the occupants and they had a long, convoluted and clearly untrue story. The driver was arrested for having a suspended license and for not having an ignition interlock. The driver explained that Sgt. Elton could not arrest him, because he did not see him driving.

A search revealed a meth pipe in the driver’s pocket, and he claimed the pants (the pants he was wearing, incidentally) did not belong to him and he had no idea there was a pipe in the pocket. The man went to jail, where they fortuitously issued him different pants.

Second Amendment to the rescue

Sgt. Keith Sargent titled this next case “The Second Amendment is alive and well.”

The suspect knocked on the victim’s door in East Bremerton, and when the homeowner opened it, the bad guy barged into the residence and started to assault the victim, asking where some unidentified female was located. The victim later said he did not know the suspect. The victim yelled for help and for someone to call the police.

Concerned neighbors stepped from their respective residences, armed themselves with their legally owned handguns, and came over to the aid of their neighbor. When officers arrived, the neighbors had already laid the suspect out on the driveway, and then put the guns down to ensure that responding officers would not be confused about who was who. The suspect went to jail.

At least he got a ride from the airport

Last week, officers were looking for a man wanted for communicating with a minor. That’s the name of the crime in Washington state like the one you see on “To Catch a Predator.” These are the guys who troll around the internet trying to establish creepy relationships with underage kids.

Officers determined that the man was flying in to visit relatives in our area and was waiting for a ride at the airport. After some arrangements with our officers, our colleagues at the Port of Seattle Police Department were more than happy to provide the man a ride to the jail.

First time for everything

Late last week, officers responded to an unusual crash. The driver of a large SUV apparently had a seizure while he was driving out of a parking lot on Kitsap Way.

The SUV crossed the multi-lane road, went between a huge tree and a stop sign and into the parking lot of the small business located at the corner of Adele Avenue and 11th Street. The SUV hit a dumpster, went over the retaining wall and crashed into a Bobcat front-end loader. The driver went to the hospital.

But wait, there’s more

While officers were still handling the runaway SUV, they saw (and mostly heard) a guy in a parking lot across the street revving the engine of his large pickup. The truck would barely move despite being at full throttle. Officers watched as the pickup limped out of the parking lot, started very slowly down Kitsap Way and pulled into the Burger King parking lot, where it immediately caught on fire.

Officers were able to walk to the second incident, so our response time was excellent. Also, picture this: the fire department was already at the other crash, and it was faster for them to back up to the scene of the second fire than to go back out onto Kitsap Way.

We are pretty sure that is the first time we have ever seen the fire department respond to a call entirely in reverse. They quickly put out the truck fire at Burger King, but, as Sgt. Sargent noted in his report, “the truck was flame broiled, not fried.”