Police encountered two separate incidents involving heroin use and possession on Bainbridge Island last weekend.

At 6:21 p.m on Saturday, Aug. 11, police responded to a telephone call from a woman living on Bergman Road.

The woman had called to ask about a possible warrant for her arrest, but was told an officer would call her back.

There was no answer when police called the woman back, so officers then proceeded to the home while other police personnel checked on the warrant. Police not only discovered the woman had a felony warrant for possession of heroin, but that a man also living at her home was wanted on a warrant for malicious mischief.

In addition to the warrant, the man also had a protection order against him from the mother of his children.

Officers knocked on the door of the home but no one answered. Officers called the police department to verify that the address on the arrest warrant matched the home’s address and upon verification, police entered the unlocked home.

Officers announced their presence while entering the residence and were met at the stairs by the woman who initially contacted them.

She was connected to an IV bag and tubes for a staph infection. She said that she was in the shower and didn’t hear them knock on the door. The woman also said that she was alone in the house.

When police continued to search the nine-bedroom home, however, they found a man laying face down on a bed. They proceeded to arrest the man, believing he was the suspect with the warrant and protection order, but it turned out he was not.

The man on the bed woke up and told officers that he wasn’t the man they were looking for and said the person wanted on the warrant wasn’t at the home.

Police continued their search anyway and noticed a foot sticking out from a pile of laundry in a bedroom closet.

Police asked the person to come out from under the laundry and discovered it was the man wanted on the malicious mischief warrant.

After the man emerged from the closet, police noticed his arm was swollen from recent needle use. He was placed under arrest.

The woman who had first called police could not be arrested and transported to jail due to her medical condition.

Officers have asked that all three individuals at the home be charged with obstructing a law enforcement officer.

Nearly four hours later, island police responded to another call about a suspicious man hanging around the Safeway parking lot on High School Road.

When police walked up to the man they immediately noticed cotton swabs and an aluminum can by a nearby bush that had been modified so it could be used for smoking drugs.

The man insisted the items were not his, but when police asked him if he had any illegal items on him, he admitted having dirty needles in his backpack.

The man told officers that he had not used heroin in a week. He said that he was taking the dirty needles, some of which were from other users, to a needle exchange in Bremerton for proper disposal.

The man allowed police to search his backpack. They found the needles as well other items commonly used for taking heroin such as cotton swabs, a tin bowl and a paper clip molded to hold the bowl. The bowl and cotton swabs had brown residue on them.

Later tests at the police station indicated the presence of heroin.

The man was not arrested at the time, but the case was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for possible charges.