COLBY-ABBOTSFORD POLICE

L OG

_ Feb. 22 - An Abbotsford woman came to the police station to report messages she was receiving from the father of her two children. The woman said she has a court-ordered custody arrangement for one of the children that was put in place in 2019, but since then, the child’s father has moved back to Mexico.

The complainant said she recently started receiving messages from the father in which he talks about wanting to see his kids. She was not sure if he had returned to the area and is worried that he may come and take their kids. She said she is in the process of trying to get full custody of their son. An officer told her to call the police right away if the father shows up.

_ Feb. 23 - An officer ran the license plate of a vehicle traveling on Highway 13 in Abbotsford. The registered owner of the vehicle came back as lacking a valid license and having an active warrant out of Clark County. The officer pulled the vehicle over near Birch Street.

The officer met with the driver, who identified himself with a Mexican passport. He admitted that he did not have insurance on the vehicle. Dispatch confirmed that he did not have a valid license, and there was an active warrant out for him.

The driver was taken into custody on the warrant and cited for driving without a valid license and driving without insurance. He was taken to Clark County Jail without incident.

_ Feb. 23 - An officer was on patrol in the city of Colby at about 3:30 a.m. when he noticed a man sleeping in his vehicle. The officer stopped to check and see if the man was OK. He knocked on the vehicle window and woke the man up.

When asked what he was doing there, the man motioned to a nearby house and said he was waiting for his friend. The man said he was coming from Medford and thought he was in Wausau. He denied consuming any alcohol or doing drugs that night, but eventually admitted to using methamphetamines a few days earlier.

The driver agreed to do field sobriety tests but said he had suffered from neck injury that severely affected his balance. The driver had trouble doing some of the tests, so the officer also took a preliminary breath test, which showed zero alcohol in his system. The driver was on probation with the condition that he not leave Taylor County without telling his probation agent. He admitted that he did not let his agent know where he was that night.

The officer contacted probation, and they asked if the driver could be released on his accord. The officer said there was not enough evidence to arrest him for operating while intoxicated, but he did not feel comfortable releasing him. The driver insisted that his friend lived in a nearby house, but when the officer knocked on the door, no one answered. The probation office was eventually agreed to place a hold on him, so he was taken into custody and transported to Clark County Jail.

_ Feb. 25 - An officer was informed of a report of a vehicle striking a traffic sign on STH 13 in Colby. As the officer was headed toward the scene of the accident, he was waved down by a man who said he had seen the vehicle strike the sign. While he was talking to the officer, the witness realized the vehicle he saw strike the sign was nearby, and he pointed it out to the officer.

The officer told the witness to go to the police station for a follow- up questions and started following the vehicle. The vehicle, which had damage to its front bumper, swayed back and forth in the westbound lane of traffic as it traveled down West Spruce Street. The driver swerved toward oncoming traffic, so the offi cer pulled the vehicle over near the intersection with Fourth Avenue North.

As the officer spoke with the driver, he could smell alcohol on his breath and see an open beer bottle in the center console. There were also multiple empty beer bottles on the floor of the car and some wedged into the side-door storage compartments. The driver asked if he could just drive his vehicle, but the officer told him no.

The officer had the driver exit the vehicle for field sobriety tests, and he noticed multiple signs of intoxication. He also took a preliminary breath test, which showed a blood-alcohol content of .223. The driver was arrested and taken to the police station, where he registered a .24 BAC on the breathalyzer. He was cited for drunk driving and driving without a license or insurance. He was released to a sober party.

A Clark County deputy assisted by taking a statement from the man who witnessed the suspect striking the traffic sign. The witness said he was northbound on STH 13 when he noticed the suspect’s vehicle drive over the median, hit a sign and continue in the wrong lane of traffic. The vehicle eventually returned to the correct lane of traffic, and the witness followed him until he encountered the police officer in Abbotsford. The deputy also photographed the scene, where a part of the suspect’s bumper had been left behind.

_ Feb. 25 - An officer was driving eastbound on East Linden Street in Abbotsford when he noticed a vehicle with a burntout headlight. He pulled the vehicle over and met with the driver, who said the part he needed to fix his headlight had not arrived in the mail yet. Dispatch reported that the driver had a suspended license and the vehicle’s registration was expired. The officer issued the driver warnings for driving without a working headlight and having an expired registration. He also cited him for driving with a suspended license and driving without insurance.

The officer told the driver he was free to go and started heading back to his squad before turning around and asking the driver if he had anything illegal in his vehicle. The driver denied having anything illegal and agreed to allow the officer to search his vehicle. The officer had the driver and his passenger exit the vehicle. Nothing was found on the driver, but the passenger handed over a glass pipe with marijuana wax inside.

The vehicle was searched, and nothing else was found. The pipe was taken into evidence, and the substance tested positive for marijuana. The passenger was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia.

_ Feb. 27 - A Colby woman came into the police station to report that she was being sexually harassed by a co-worker in Abbotsford. The woman said she had already reported the harassment to the proper people at her place of employment, but she did not feel like enough was being done.

The complainant said the coworker has been making sexual gestures and thrusting his hips towards her. She said he was moved to a different part of the plant they work at, but he was still able to get close enough in passing to harass her. She said two days ago, he had touched her butt as he walked by her.

An officer said he would speak to her co-worker and warn him that he would be arrested for assault if he touched her again. When the officer spoke to him, he denied touching the complainant but said his supervisors had spoken to him about the issue. The officer told him that he could be charged with harassment or assault if the behavior continued. The officer also planned on following up with the company’s human resources department.

_ Feb. 28 - An officer was on patrol in Abbotsford when he ran the license plate of a vehicle traveling on Bezak Drive. The registration came back as suspended due to a safety responsibility.

The officer pulled the vehicle over and met with the driver, who said the registration was probably suspended because she did not have insurance on the vehicle. The driver said she was on her way to Thorp and had pulled over so she could check the directions to where she was going. The officer noticed there was a child in the backseat. The child was in a car seat, but the seat belt was not buckled. The driver said the child must have undone the belt.

While speaking to the driver, the officer could smell the slight odor of marijuana. Whenaskedif thereweredrugsinthecar, the driver said no. The officer deployed his K-9 for a sniff, and the dog alerted to the presence of drugs. The driver was told to exit the vehicle, and a search uncovered a plastic container with marijuana inside, along with a grinder and a glass pipe. A total of 1.5 grams of marijuana was taken into evidence.

The driver was cited for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license. She was also warned about driving without insurance and having suspended registration plates. The driver called for a licensed driver to come and pick her up.

_ Feb. 28 - An officer was flagged down by a woman at the intersection of Spence Street and South First Street in Colby. The woman said her three-year-old daughter had gotten out of her house and was missing. She provided a description of what her daughter was wearing and told the officer her name.

The officer said he would start searching the area and told the woman to call the police station if the child showed up. Two deputies also arrived to help with the search.

The officer knocked on the door of a nearby apartment, and the man who came to the door said two young girls had just showed up at his place about 30 minutes prior. He said he walked one of the girls to her home, and the other one was left with a woman who said she would care for the child. The officer and the mother went to the woman’s residence, and it turned out to be the child’s babysitter. The child was then reunited with her mother.