COLBY-ABBOTSFORD POLICE

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_ July 3 - An officer responded to a report of a vehicle striking a mailbox on East Adams Street in Colby. When the officer arrived, the driver was still in the vehicle and his eyes were closed. The post of the mailbox was partially lodged under the front bumper.

The officer woke the driver up and could smell alcohol on him. When asked where he was headed, the driver said he had pulled over to get some sleep. The offi cer informed him that he had struck a mailbox and was on the wrong side of the street. The driver said he must have fallen asleep. The driver’s keys were still in the ignition, and the vehicle had been left in drive.

The driver admitted to drinking at a friend’s house earlier in the night and agreed to be transported to the police station for field sobriety tests. The driver showed some signs of intoxication during the tests, and he registered a blood-alcohol content of .095 on the preliminary breath test. He was cited for operating the influence, and a breathalyzer sample was taken after 20 minutes of observation. He registered a .06 BAC, which is below the legal limit. He was released to a sober party.

The officer later spoke to the owner of the mailbox, who said he was planning on putting a new mailbox in anyway, so he did not want to pursue damages.

_ July 6 - An officer met with a Colby woman to discuss a possible probation violation committed by her daughter’s boyfriend. She had the officer listen to a recording in which he talks about punching her in the face. The complainant said her daughter’s boyfriend has a bad temper and she is afraid of what he might do. She also suspected him of smoking marijuana in her garage, though he denied doing so when confronted. The officer said he would provide the audio recording to the boyfriend’s probation agent.

_ July 6 - An officer pulled over a vehicle for speeding on STH 13 in Colby, and dispatch reported that one of the passengers had a warrant out of Milwaukee for failure to pay child support. The passenger was taken into custody and transported to the police station, where the arrest warrant was confirmed. However, due to COVID-19, the officer was directed to release him with instructions to call Milwaukee to discuss the child support issues. The passenger was adamant that the warrant was not valid, but the officer advised him to call the number provided to resolve the issue.

_ July 6 - An officer was dispatched to an Abbotsford residence in response to a male party who had dialed 911 and was crying. Because of a language barrier, dispatch had a hard time determining the caller’s correct address or what was happening. The officer eventually located the man at an apartment in Abbotsford.

Another male subject at the scene provided a rough translation. At first, he said the victim had fallen off a roof, and then he said something had fallen off the roof and hit him on the head. Finally, he said the victim had been involved in a fight with another man who was working on shingling a roof. The translating party said the victim was arguing with another male party, who pushed him back, causing him to trip over some debris and hit his head and neck on a microwave.

An ambulance was called to the scene, and EMTs attended to his injuries. The officer knew the other party involved, so he went to his residence in Abbotsford. The suspect admitted to arguing with the victim and shoving him, but didn’t believe he had hit his head. The suspect had an active warrant for a traffi c violation, so he was arrested and taken to the police station, where he posted the $500 bond.

The officer wanted to interview him again before making a decision on charges, but he was not at the work site the following day. He also called him several times, but it always went straight to voicemail, which had not been set up yet. The officer attempted to speak with another male subject who witnessed the incident, but due to a language barrier, he was not able to get much information.

_ July 6 - An officer responded to an Abbotsford residence in reference to a child welfare request. A clinical psychologist from another state had called the station and expressed concerns about the possible abuse of two children. No one was home at the Abbotsford residence, so the officer left a calling card. The officer also went and spoke to another couple who were involved with the children. They said the children were no longer in their care because of a child abuse allegation made in June.

On July 10, the woman looking after the children returned the officer’s phone call, and the officer was able to see the children in person. The children appeared to be doing well, and no new cases of abuse were reported to the officer.

_ July 6 - An officer was dispatched to an Abbotsford apartment in reference to a disturbance between two female friends. The women had been arguing about various issues, but nothing physical happened. One of the women called the police because the other woman was repeatedly knocking on her door. The complainant said she did not want to speak to the other woman and did not want her to have contact with her family. The officer relayed this information to the other woman.

_ July 7 - An officer responded to a complaint of someone having more than the maximum number of fowl at their residence in Colby. Someone at the city clerk’s office relayed the complaintfromamanwhocame to city hall and reported that his neighbors had two chickens and two turkeys — two more than allowed by the city ordinance.

The officer went to the residence in question and spoke to a woman who said the turkeys were supposed to go live with her mother out in the country but a coop had not been built yet. The officer gave her two weeks to come into compliance with the ordinance; she said it would be taken care of by then.

_ July 7 - An officer responded to an Abbotsford residence in reference to a theft complaint. The homeowner said someone had taken two solar lights from his front yard. He said he noticed a glitch in his front door camera system, and for some reason, the video footage did not catch who stole the lights. The complainant did not have any suspects in mind, but said people often walk through his yard at odd hours of the night, especially after bar close.

_ July 8 - An officer went to an Abbotsford residence on North Third Street to investigate a complaint of several unregistered vehicles and a fence violating city ordinances. The officer could see four vehicles on the property with expired plates and old registration stickers. The officer also looked at a fence on the property and determined that it violated four different parts of the city ordinance, including a three-foot setback.

Photographs were taken of the vehicles and the fence, and a warning letter was sent to the property owners, giving them 10 days to address the issues.

_ July 8 - An officer was dispatched to an Abbotsford residence in reference to an intoxicated male subject who was screaming and breaking things. The officer spoke to a man and his mother, who felt threatened by the behavior of a man they were allowing to stay at the residence. They said he had been drinking since 1 p.m. that day and had made threatening comments toward them. When he was told to go back to his bedroom, they could hear him throwing and breaking things.

The officer, accompanied by sheriff’s deputies, knocked on the bedroom door several times, but no one answered, so he opened it. The male subject was sitting with his head on a desk and appeared to be sleeping. Items were strewn around the room, and a mirror at the head of the bed had been broken, with shards still in the bed. The officer woke the man up, and he immediately became defensive about the police being there. He denied doing anything wrong. Dispatch reported that the subject was on probation for a prior domestic abuse incident, and was not allowed to consume alcohol. He was also in the same house as a woman he was not allowed to have contact with.

When informed that he was going to be arrested, the suspect got into a boxer stance and said he was going to fight. He was swaying as he stood up, and deputies each grabbed an arm and held him on the bed as he was handcuffed. A preliminary breath test a blood-alcohol content of .203. He was taken to the Marathon County Jail, and charges of domestic disorderly conduct and bail jumping were recommended.

_ July 9 - An officer was on patrol in Colby when he ran the license plate of a southbound vehicle on STH 13. The vehicle came back as reported stolen out of Menomonie. The officer caught up with the vehicle at Hiline Avenue and conducted a high-risk traffic stop with assistance from another officer. The occupants were removed from the vehicle and detained, and the Menomonie police were informed that the stolen vehicle had been recovered.

The driver and the passenger were both questioned at the police station. The driver said he had been stranded in Minnesota for several days before getting a ride to a friend’s house in Menomonie. He said a man there offered to let him use his vehicle so he could drive to Merrill and pick up some belongings at a place he used to stay. He said he had no reason to believe that the man who gave him the car keys was not the owner of the car. The passenger also said he had no idea the vehicle was stolen.

The vehicle was searched by police, and the driver’s belongings were removed. A brandnew backpack were also found inside the vehicle, along with several items inside. Both the driver and the passenger denied knowing anything about the items, but the driver admitted that they stopped at a Walmart in Merrill. The vehicle’s owner came to reclaim his vehicle, and he, too, denied knowing anything about the backpack with items inside.

The driver was placed on a probation hold and taken to Clark County Jail. A recommended charge of operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent was forwarded to the district attorney.

_ July 10 - An officer was dispatched to an Abbotsford residence in reference to a dog bite complaint. The offi cer met with a woman who said she was out for a walk the previous day when she came across a boy and his dog in the street. As the dog approached her, she asked the boy if the dog bites and he said no. She said the dog bit her hand as she extended it outward. The bite did not break the skin, so she did not feel the need to see a doctor.

The officer went and spoke to the boy. The dog was now wearing a muzzle, and when asked about the previous day’s incident, the boy said it was an accident. The officer then spoke to the boy’s stepfather, who apologized about the dog biting someone. He was cited for allowing the dog to run at large, and the officer advised him of ways to keep the dog on their property.

After the officer issued the citation, he was waved down by a woman who said she witnessed the dog bite. She said the dog is often running after people on the street, some are afraid to walk by because of it. She said she had complained to the police about the dog before, but nothing was done. The officer said he was not aware of those previous complaints, but he informed her that the dog’s owner had been cited.

_ July 10 - An officer spoke with a Colby woman who came to the police station to report a theft by fraud. The woman said she had recently been contacted by her bank regarding several suspicious transactions. She provided the officer with a printout, with a number of unauthorized transactions. The complainant said she was unsure how this happened, because she has never given out her Social Security number or other identifying information. The woman said she was not out any money, but her bank advised her to report the transactions to police. The officer advised her to keep any eye on all of her other accounts to make sure there was no further unusual activity.

_ July 12 - An officer was dispatched to the Colby VFW in response to a military veteran who said he was in distress. The officer spoke to a man at the bar who said he had run out of money and was looking for some food and a place to stay for the night. The officer talked to him about his situation and confirmed that he was not having any suicidal thoughts.

The man’s vehicle had Indiana license plates, and dispatch reported that he had a valid license and no warrant. An unknown male party at the VFW gave the man $40 out of his own wallet, and he was also provided with a Salvation Army voucher so he get a room at a local hotel for the night.

_ July 12 - A local man turned in an iPhone he found on Elderberry Road near the far east entrance to the Kwik Trip parking lot. He said the phone rang, and his wife spoke to the owner of the phone, who was from Minnesota. The officer contacted the owner again, and she agreed to pick up the phone the next day.