All persons in the police blotter are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

FIREWORK: At 3:51 p.m. Oct. 28, officers were dispatched to a loud explosion reported at a 70th Street East residence. The resident told police he had lit an M80-style firecracker and thrown it into his front yard to celebrate his child’s birthday. The debris had been cleaned up, but he did not show police where the debris was. He did show three new groundflower fireworks he had in his home. When an officer commented groundflowers were not a type of firework that made an explosion, the resident appeared evasive and insisted it was the type he lit. Meanwhile, neighbors had gathered outside the home. Some said the explosion was extremely loud and shook their houses, and that they saw smoke coming from the front of the man’s home. One neighbor filled out a witness statement saying she heard the explosion and her son came in to tell her the man had lit a firework. Police forwarded the case to the Bonney Lake City Prosecutor to review charges related to the sale and discharge of fireworks.

WARRANT: At 7:45 a.m. Oct. 29, an officer observed a suspicious vehicle in the AM/PM parking lot. An employee advised the officer the car had been parked and running since 9 p.m. the previous evening. A dispatch check of the license plate number showed the registered owner to have an outstanding warrant out of the King County Sheriff’s office. The officer made contact with two occupants in the car and the driver was identified as the registered owner. He was arrested and brought to the Public Safety Building, where a Community Service Officer took him into custody and transported to Pierce County Jail for booking. The car was released into the passenger’s custody per the owner’s request.

SHOPLIFTING AND M.I.P.: At 8:34 p.m. on Oct. 31, an officer was dispatched to Target for a suspected shoplifting case, in which loss prevention staff had a juvenile in custody. The officer contacted two loss prevention specialists, one of whom said she witnessed the juvenile place two 750mL bottles of Skyy Vodka in a large black backpack. The juvenile walked past all points of sale to the exit, where a specialist confronted her and brought her to the loss prevention office. The specialist told the officer the juvenile admitted to stealing the bottles and returned them. The specialists phoned the girl’s mother, who instructed them to call the police and have her daughter arrested. The juvenile confirmed Loss Prevention’s statement to the police officer. She was read her Miranda rights, arrested, and told by Loss Prevention she was forbade from entering the store for one year unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. After the officer had secured the juvenile in the backseat of his vehicle, her mother made contact and told the officer she would take custody provided charges were forwarded to the prosecutor, a deal to which the officer agreed. Charges of shoplifting and being a minor in possession of alcohol were forwarded to Remann Hall.

MISUNDERSTANDING: At 12:52 a.m. Oct. 31, an officer was on patrol on 193rd Avenue East when he observed a man investigating some vehicles parked across the road. Due to the time of day, the officer chose to contact the man. As he exited his patrol car, he saw the man was open carrying a handgun on his right hip. The officer ordered the open carrier to face away from him on his knees with his hands in the air, then called for back-up units. During the wait, the open carrier advised the officer he was a neighborhood resident who had seen a suspicious man near the parked vehicles and was investigating. Shortly, the man walked out from between the vehicles and the officer ordered him to assume the open carrier’s position, holding both at gunpoint until back-up could arrive. When it did, both men were handcuffed, patted down, disarmed, and secured in separate vehicles. The “suspicious” man told officers he was visiting friends and working on a Jeep among the parked cars. The officer saw a toolbox near the Jeep, which had its hood open. Contact with the homeowner the man named confirmed he was merely a visitor, last seen leaving to work on the Jeep. Both men were released, and the open carrier’s firearm was returned, unloaded. The case was completed, for information purposes only.

A REASON TO PARK WELL: At 9 a.m. Oct 31, an officer impounded a vehicle parked on 214th Avenue East. The car was on the east shoulder of the road with its driver-side tires in the northbound lane of travel. The parking forced passing cars to drive into the oncoming lane, so the officer decided to have it impounded. Cascade Towing towed the vehicle to its yard and the officer completed an impoundment form.

PROTECTION ORDER VIOLATION: At 4:51 p.m. Oct. 31, an officer was dispatched to a report of a protection order violation. The reporting party told the officer she was shopping at Safeway when she saw a man she had filed a restraining order against walking toward her. They wound up in a shouting match until the man turned around and left. The woman continued shopping and went home before deciding to call police, because these incidents had become a pattern and she had had enough. She said the man had been following her around and she would file charges if it would make it stop. The officer collected a written statement and checked with Safeway to review security footage, but the incident occurred off-camera. The officer then contacted the man and his son; both confirmed the facts of the incident at Safeway and provided written statements. At the time of the police report, the case was planned to be forwarded to the city prosecutor for review of possible charges.

MALICIOUS MISCHIEF: At 3:16 p.m. Nov. 1, an officer was dispatched to a malicious mischief call at Henshell Chiropractic. Profane and visually explicit graffiti had been written on the back of the building. The manager of the business submitted a written statement surmising the vandalism had happened sometime between 6 p.m. the previous evening and 3 p.m. The graffiti seemed to have been drawn in permanent ink pen and took up about 3 feet across total. There were no suspects at the time of the report, and the officer requested the case be suspended pending new information.