Drunk drivers, booze-snatching shoplifters and the usual collection of wayward islanders kept Bainbridge police busy this past year. The Review scoured its blotter roll from the past year to pull together some of the most memorable emergency calls.
Jan. 1
4:56 a.m. A resident on Shannon Drive awoke in the middle of the night to find a complete stranger asleep on his couch.
The stranger was intoxicated, and was awakened by police when they arrived on the scene.
The intoxicated stranger was visiting family on the island and didn’t know the area well.
Jan. 4
7:27 p.m. A driver called police and reported that he was following a possible drunk driver on Highway 305. The caller noted that the vehicle was driving on three wheels and a rim.
Police intercepted the vehicle and pulled it over. The woman driving said she was coming from her home where she had been drinking since morning and was heading to her sister’s home.
The right front tire was missing and the vehicle was resting on its rim with the hub cap almost entirely worn off. There were nine dogs inside the vehicle with the driver.
Police administered various roadside tests to determine if the driver was intoxicated. The driver failed all tests and admitted that she was drunk.
Police also searched the driver and her vehicle and found two marijuana joints, which the driver insisted were for medical purposes, and said that she also took a number of other medications. Police were unable to locate her medical marijuana card.
While searching the vehicle, the dogs broke free from the car and escaped.
Feb. 17
1:37 p.m. Police responded to a report of malicious mischief at a housing complex on Wallace Way.
It was discovered that all of the couches in the community center for the complex were turned upside down. One of the building’s fire extinguishers was taken and discharged on a trail behind the building.
The couches were not damaged, just upside-down.
March 8
9:30 a.m. A man and a woman said their wallets had been stolen from a home on Meadowmeer Circle.
The couple said their wallets and a pocket knife may have been stolen when they visited friends the previous evening and left the items in their unlocked home. The man didn’t think anyone came inside while they were sleeping because one of their dogs would have barked.
Later that day, the man reported that he had found his wallet and pocket knife inside their puppy’s crate. The wallet had been placed on top of a towel near the animal’s crate and he said the puppy probably took the towel and the wallet into the crate to chew on.
The woman called later to say she had found her wallet. She had forgotten that she had put it in a different purse.
March 24
2:10 a.m. An owner of a bar on Winslow Way called police to report that a man was passed out at the entrance to his bar. When police arrived they found the intoxicated man on the ground, face up. Police also discovered he had a firearm.
The man had a carrying permit for the weapon and told police that he didn’t have the firearm in the bar. His story was confusing to police, but they determined that he was trying to say that he went to his car and got the gun before returning and passing out in front of the bar.
The man also said he was planning on applying to the Bainbridge Island Police Department next month. Police suggested that he curtail his drinking.
Bar staff said that the man had not left the bar all night and had received several complaints from women that he was “coming on a little strong” and was “overly friendly.” Bar staff said the man only left the bar when he went outside to try to seduce some women who were leaving.
March 26
11:22 p.m. Police found four minors with possession of alcohol at the park on Creosote Place. Police found the underage male drinkers consuming boxed wine and cookies while watching the Seattle skyline and the passing ferries.
Another minor was present, the designated driver, and was found sleeping in a nearby parked van. He had not been drinking.
The minors admitted to consuming alcohol. Police thanked them for their honesty and told them they would forward a report to the prosecutor.
April 6
12:03 p.m. A man reported that his car was damaged by an unknown person on Lynwood Center Road.
The word “meow” was scratched into the paint on the passenger door of the vehicle. The owner of the car told police that he housesat for his ex-girlfriend’s family last year while they were still together. The family’s six cats had escaped while he was watching the home and have not been seen since.
The man told police he gave the family money for the missing cats but they wanted more. He added that he has had problems with the family ever since. He had heard from his ex-girlfriend after he discovered his damaged door, and she told him that it was damaged by her new ex-boyfriend that she dated right after him.
The man asked police to not contact his ex-girlfriend or her family.
May 7
11:47 p.m. Police pulled over a vehicle on Highway 305 after observing it traveling approximately 80-90 mph.
When the driver rolled down his window, police noticed the smell of alcohol, and teriyaki. The driver had brown sauce smudged on his shirt and forehead. Police pointed it out to him and he cleaned it off.
Police asked the man if he had been drinking and he said he drank a six pack of beer just before getting into his car to drive to the ferry. When the driver got out to take sobriety tests, officers noticed that the teriyaki mess did not spare his pants, which were also wet with sauce. Despite pretending to blow into the portable breath test device, the driver did not pass a sobriety test and was arrested for DUI. Later breath tests registered a .183 blood alcohol level.
May 17
7:30 p.m. Police responded to a report of trespassing at the Fletcher Bay cemetery. When they arrived they found two adult men in their car smoking marijuana in a large glass bong. When police approached the two men in their vehicle, smoke poured out from within as they rolled down their window.
Police found marijuana in the driver’s possession, a glass pipe and the bong. The driver was given a citation for possession of drug paraphernalia and police drove him home.
10:08 p.m. Police received multiple reports of a truck driving recklessly around Winslow Way, peeling around corners and nearly hitting other vehicles. One witness reported that the truck was “doing brodies” in the parking lot of the Town & Country Market. The truck was then observed outside a local bar.
Police contacted the driver inside the bar. He said that he was excited because he just graduated college, and that his tires had slipped a bit on the wet road but it was unintentional.
Police ran the man’s name and they discovered he was a convicted felon for a hit-and-run involving an injury. He had only recently had his driver’s license reinstated.
Police investigated the incident as reckless driving and forwarded the report to the prosecutor’s office with a recommendation that the man be charged.
May 23
4:26 p.m. A woman told police that she was being harassed via the telephone by a man in California.
A few weeks prior, the woman was staying at a condo in Mexico that was owned by a relative. Her dog got into a fight with a neighbor’s dog in the condominium complex. Since then, the neighbor has been calling repeatedly and insisting that she pay for the vet bills. The neighbor had called six times that day, starting at 6:30 a.m.
Each time he called, his language became more “colorful,” the woman said. She suspected he was intoxicated.
May 26
3:21 p.m. Officers responded to reports of yelling on Madison Avenue. They discovered an intoxicated man on the side of the road. The man said that he had been drinking at a local bar with his brother and a friend, but his brother was now missing. He insisted that his brother was being held against his will in an apartment on Madison Avenue by Mexican men.
Police then encountered the man’s friend. He was also intoxicated and looking for the man’s brother.
Police searched the area around the apartments, including an apartment where the brother was being held, but were unable to locate the missing brother. The suspected apartment was actually empty.
Police eventually located the brother down the street. He was also intoxicated. The men were reunited and guided to the ferry terminal.
Aug. 9
12:43 a.m. Police responded to a verbal dispute on Lynwood Center Road. When officers arrived they found a man in the front driveway of the home with a laundry basket. He said he was moving out, but his girlfriend was going crazy. He said she had been drinking all day.
The man said he became agitated earlier when the girlfriend began affectionately biting him, which he did not like.
The woman had a different story. She said when she returned home, the man was angry. She showed police a number of text messages from the man from throughout the day in which he cursed at her and called her offensive names. The man then left, taking his tools and a flat-screen TV that the woman said belonged to her. On his way out he broke a pot on the porch.
The woman also said that when she returned home she found that someone had defecated on her porch and thought it had been her boyfriend. Police asked the man about it and he was evasive. Police also asked about the TV. The man said it was his and he didn’t want to talk about it.
Police were unable to prove an assault and the man was released.
Sept. 22
10:33 p.m. A resident on Foster Road called police because his neighbor had a loud fish fountain. He said that the sound of the fountain was keeping his wife up at night. Police could hear the sound of the fountain and a low hum of a pump from the man’s backyard.
Police contacted the fountain owner who said the fountain is an ongoing issue with his neighbor, but the city’s code enforcement came to his home a year ago and said the fountain was fine. He said he could not turn the fountain off at night because it would cause the filter to back up and flood his neighbor’s yard.
