The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Grand Coulee Police

4/24 - Cops responded to a report of dogs running at large in the Butler Square area. The dogs were in their fenced in yards when police responded, but they observed one of the dogs climb over the fence. A man who lives at the home came and put the dogs into their crates. He was warned about the dogs running at large.

- Police spoke separately to two men who had an argument on Spokane Way near the car wash. Police are familiar with their history of arguing. Police encouraged one of the men to get a restraining order.

4/25 - Police assisted an emergency medical crew on Roosevelt Avenue with lifting a person on a gurney into an ambulance.

- Police checked on a man reportedly using drugs in a parked truck near the Moose Lodge. Police found that he had smoked opiates, using tin foil. Police provided him information on resources for drug recovery.

- A vehicle was reportedly parked in a handicapped parking space without a placard, but the vehicle was gone by the time police arrived to check.

4/26 - Police are working to remove abandoned vehicles and debris from city property around Dill Avenue.

- Police told a man not to loiter in an alley near Main Street and the man said he wouldn’t. An employee of a nearby business had reported the man had been using narcotics. 

- Affter being told by law enforcement that one of her guns had been used in a crime in King County, a Bowen Street woman reported that guns were stolen from her safe. She hadn’t realized the guns were missing. Police surmised that someone who knew where the key to the safe was likely took them.

4/27 - A man was arrested for being in control of a vehicle parked on Second Street while he was intoxicated. He reportedly had been knocking on doors and being unwanted at a couple of locations. Police saw a “tall boy” can of Coors beer in the cup holder. When told he was under arrest and ordered out of the vehicle, he ignored the officer’s orders and lit a cigarette. Police took hold of him, and the man “released flatulence,” according to the police report. Breath samples showed a blood alcohol content of around 0.17, above the 0.08 legal limit. He was released after being charged.

4/28 - Police spoke to residents about a brown dog that runs loose in the Batchelor Square area. Police explained that they need to observe the dog running loose in order to follow up with the situation.

- A man faces the charge of stalking as well as of violating a no-contact order with an ex-girlfriend. The man allegedly has violated the order multiple times, been arrested for it, and has run from police previously. He allegedly also has threatened police when being arrested. 

- No one was in the alley behind a Main Street bar after a report of people throwing bottles and sticks there.

4/29 - A Batchelor Square man told police he saw a large cat with black fur, such as a panther. Police searched the Eden Harbor Road area below his house. At one point a man on an ATV asked the officer, who was searching in a wooded area, if he was mushroom hunting. That man hadn’t seen any large cats. Police went back to the Batchelor Square man’s home, where the man pointed out the large cat: Police saw a large house cat with a pink collar jump into a neighboring yard. It was large, but not the size of a panther.

- A Batchelor Square man reported his vehicle stolen from a man who had been working on it. Tribal police were told to keep an eye out for the vehicle in Elmer City where a girlfriend of the suspected thief may live.

- A group of men at Jones Bay were directed toward the shooting range at Osborn Bay to shoot a BB gun after it was reported they had been firing a rifle.

- Police responded to an incident at the airport where a plane had crashed, ending up on its side as the pilot was landing and landing gear on the plane had failed. No one was hurt in the incident.

- A man on Washington Place was told to keep the noise down. He had been talking and singing loudly while alone.

- Everyone was in good spirits and nothing was amiss at a gathering on Grand Avenue, where someone accidentally called 911. 

4/30 - Police gave a courtesy ride to a man reportedly harassing people in the hospital parking lot. No crime had been committed. The man asked police for money at one point. They did not give him any money.

- Police responded to a traffic accident on SR-174 near milepost 24. It was determined that a woman had turned left into the lane of an oncoming vehicle that didn’t have time to stop and avoid hitting her vehicle. That driver suffered three broken ribs. Both vehicles had deployed their airbags during the crash. The woman was charged with failure to yield and driving without insurance.

5/1 - A manager of an RV park on Grand Coulee Avenue reported a man suffering from a mental illness, moving decorative rocks and concrete pieces, accusing her of witchcraft and being an FBI agent, as well as making other people uncomfortable. She didn’t want him to be arrested but said he needed help. The man admitted to moving rocks. Police noted he seemed content handling a hand towel while they spoke to him. He was adamant that his actions were due to “curses.” He told police he was moving out, and was frustrated. He took some belongings and drove off in his vehicle, which he is allowed to do as a licensed driver. He didn’t meet the criteria for involuntary commitment to a mental facility. The manager was told about the process for eviction.

- Police and a medical crew responded to a report of a man passed out on steps on Midway Avenue outside of some apartments. There was a handgun next to the man. He was belligerent and extremely intoxicated. Police took the gun for safekeeping and told him he could have it back when he sobered up. Police told him to go to bed.

5/2 - Grand Coulee and Coulee Dam police checked for trespassers at a Third Street residence. There was a bucket with feces in it, indicative of the plumbing having been turned off. The doors and windows were closed and locked.

- Police used leatherman tools to remove wrong and mismatched license plates from a vehicle on Continental Heights. The plates didn’t belong to the vehicle, and police suspect the driver stole them from similar vehicles to avoid paying for tabs.

5/3 - There was insufficient evidence to support a woman’s claim that she was strangled by a man during an argument with her mother on Yakima Street. Witnesses said she wasn’t strangled, but had been acting erratically and asked to leave, then escorted out of the house with the man directing her out by the waist.

- Police took note of and photographed code violations on Bowen Street, Burdin Boulevard, King Street, Dill Avenue, and Alcan Road, including couches in yards, trash piles in yards, a toilet visible from the road, a dilapidated hot tub, and more.

- A woman was surprised to learn that she couldn’t drive an ATV on SR-155 after police saw her driving near North Dam Park. She said she had been driving the vehicle around Electric City for about a month after purchasing the vehicle. 

- Juveniles left on foot toward the Spring Canyon Apartments after being confronted about trespassing on Spokane Way property by the property owner.

5/4 - A man reported his wallet had been stolen and his debit card used twice to withdraw money, $300 and $200. He contacted the bank and was told security cameras would be checked.

5/5 - A woman was charged with driving while intoxicated and for hit and run after driving into a guardrail in the Four Corners area, then leaving on foot. She provided breath samples around 0.13, above the 0.08 legal limit. 

5/6 - Police arrested a man at Safeway who was wanted on an arrest warrant and took him to jail without incident.

5/7 - A Grand Coulee officer assisted Coulee Dam police who were arresting someone for a restraining order violation. Fentanyl pills were also seized during the arrest process. Coulee Dam police took the man to Grant County Jail.

Coulee Dam Police

5/1 - A man was seen attempting to enter a garage through a side window at a Williams Street residence in Electric City. The man took off on foot. Police didn’t see anyone on foot in the area at the time.

- A possible vehicle prowl was reported on Grand Avenue after a car alarm went off.

- A pickup was reported swerving between lanes on Pine Street near some tennis courts. Police didn’t see such a vehicle there.

5/2 - A cell phone lost near Owhi Lake “pinged” to a vehicle parked behind Harvest Foods. The person said they had found the phone near Owhi Lake and it was returned to the rightful owner. No crime was committed.

5/3 - Police stayed with a Park Avenue woman until a medical crew arrived. The woman was pale and lightheaded, the police report says.

- An officer saw a Honda Accord traveling toward him with about 3/4ths of the car being in their lane on Midway Avenue. The officer pulled the car over and saw what appeared to be the handle of a handgun sticking out from the driver’s thigh area where he was sitting. The man was told not to reach for it. He said it was a torch device not a gun. As he appeared to reach for it, the officer drew his own gun, and didn’t point it at the man, who raised his hands up at that point. The man was told to exit the car and placed in wrist restraints for the safety of the officer and himself, the report explains. The report doesn’t clarify if the device was indeed a torch. The man was arrested and taken to jail for violating a no-contact court order against him with one of the passengers. He also had a suspended license, expired tabs, and no proof of insurance.

5/4 - Police have probable cause to arrest a man for assault and the felony of threatening to kill someone after speaking with a woman on Lakeview Avenue who had signs of injury.

- There was no sign of anything being broken or tampered with at the post office in Electric City when an interior door was reported as having been open.

5/7 - A Coulee Dam officer elected not to respond to a situation on Grand Coulee Avenue after learning details about it. According to the dispatcher, a man was upset it took police three hours to respond to his situation. The dispatcher said the time was nowhere near that long. The man had also said something to the effect that if police tried to contact him, they would be met with a gun. The officer learned that the man had found a knife on his property with unknown blood on it. The officer elected not to go to the man’s location to retrieve an unknown knife because it could be dangerous for police and for the man.