Cuff 'N Stuff
The Internal Newsletter of the Wise County Sheriff's Department

In the early afternoon two Tacoma Police bicycle officers contacted a known suspect in a full-sized pickup for Driving While License Suspended (a misdemeanor). As the officers were preparing to issue a ticket, the male suspect put the truck in gear and quickly drove away. One officer was struck by the truck's side-view mirror injuring him slightly. The other officer jumped out of the way however, the suspect drove over his bicycle destroying it.

Minutes later a third officer (in a car) began a pursuit with the now felony suspect. After a few minutes the officer ended the chase because of the level of danger the pursuit had reached. About two hours later a State Trooper located the unoccupied truck outside of a Fife, Washington hotel along Interstate 5. As officers attempted to surround the hotel the suspect (now wanted on numerous felonies) jumped out a hotel room window and began to run toward Interstate 5.

A Tacoma K9 team was just arriving and deployed the dog. At this time the suspect was climbing the 8 foot highway fence on the shoulder of I-5. As the suspect jumped down on the other side of the fence it appeared that he was once again going to elude police and the K9 now barking through the fence at the suspect. Instead of continuing with his short-lived freedom, the suspect turned and began kicking dirt through the fence and into the face of the frustrated K9; appearing not like a desperate fugitive, but more like an angry baseball player kicking dirt at the umpire. The suspect then laughed and turned to continue running across I-5. He was immediately struck by a car, breaking his right leg and causing multiple injuries, including a punctured lung.

Was that enough?...nooooo! With a bad leg and one working lung, the suspect gimped his way across the rest of the 8 lane freeway and continued out of sight near the Puyallup river. While injured seriously, the suspect found the perfect hiding place in bushes on the river's bank. The K9 team made it over the fence and successfully across the Interstate. The K9 dog, as you would expect, was just a tad bit angry. While his nostrils were still full of dirt and gravel from the suspects earlier rudeness, he was hot on the trail of the bad guy. The suspect was fully concealed in bushes as the K9 neared his location. Only a small part of the suspect could be seen by the approaching K9; the section from the suspects belly button down to the mid-thigh was the only target. Wham! The K9 located and hit the target. Yep, right between the suspects legs....two in custody....I mean, one in custody! This truly reminded the suspect what a "real man" he was!

So, from a simple traffic ticket to serious injuries, multiple felony charges, and a premature end to the suspects future family plans. Now that’s what I call a bad day! Woof-Woof!

Copyright ©2000 Dumb Crooks
Www.DumbCrooks.com
Used with permission

Well, it’s time to address an old situation.

It seems every office has property missing: staplers, tape dispensers, scissors, etc.

If they are loaned, or if other employees just used them, they would show up somewhere in the building. Since they don’t, this leads one to think that these items are going outside the building.

We would like to think that employees would value their job enough that no one would risk formal action over anything so small, but who knows?

We suggest that these missing items find their way back to their respective places.

DRIVER’S FURTIVE MOVEMENTS LEAD TO SEARCH OF VEHICLE FOR WEAPON AND DISCOVERY OF CONTRABAND.

The defendant was stopped for speeding. While the officer was in his patrol car checking the defendant’s license, he noticed that the man was making “overt movements” and “constantly reaching over to the floorboard of the passenger’s seat.”

When the officer returned to the defendant’s car, he told him that he was making the officer nervous, and asked whether there was anything in the car the officer should know about. The defendant explained that he was picking up trash and putting it in a bag, and the officer saw a trash bag on the floorboard of the passenger’s side.

In response to the officer’s question about whether he had a gun in the car, the defendant said, “No. You are welcome to look.” After ascertaining that the defendant was not licensed to carry a handgun, the officer began searching the passenger compartment, where he found a bullet in the center console.

The defendant explained that he had found the bullet on the ground, but admitted that he had a pistol at home. As the officer continued his search he noticed the defendant becoming “a little bit agitated” and “extremely nervous and fidgety” as the officer came closer to searching one area of the car.

After putting the defendant in the patrol car, the office returned to search, discovering a bag of marijuana in the defendant’s coat pocket. The coat was lying on the passenger’s seat.

The defendant moved to suppress the marijuana on the grounds that his detention was longer than necessary to carry out the purpose of the stop, and because the search exceeded the scope of his consent.

HOLDING: The initial detention of the defendant for speeding was justified, a point he did not contest. In order for the continued detention of the defendant to be reasonable, it must have been no longer than necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. The reasonableness of the length of a detention is judged by whether the officer “diligently pursued a means of investigation that was likely to dispel or confirm (his) suspicions quickly.”

The defendant contended that, as soon as the officer saw that there was a bag of trash in the car, just as the defendant had said, there was no further justification for questioning him about “unrelated criminal activity.”

The officer’s questions and actions revealed a concern for whether the defendant had a weapon. It was not unreasonable for him to detain the defendant long enough to ask an additional question or two regarding this concern.

The officer’s “primary concern” shifted from the traffic offense to determining why he made the furtive movements and was nervous. An officer who makes a valid traffic stop is entitled to take measures to insure his safety. The length of the detention in this case was reasonable in light of the circumstances.

While the officer was searching for a gun, he saw what he thought was marijuana residue. Once an officer has probable cause to believe that a vehicle contains criminal evidence, he may search the vehicle without a warrant, including containers within the vehicle that might hold the evidence.

The discovery of marijuana residue, along with the furtive gestures and bullet, gave the officer probable cause to believe that a larger quantity of marijuana was in the vehicle. No subsequent attempt by the defendant to withdraw his consent had any effect on the search following these discoveries.

Because the initial detention was reasonable, and because probable cause developed during the time the officer searched the vehicle with the consent of the defendant, the marijuana discovered in the defendant’s coat was admissible.

Mileage Reimbursement .30 per mile

Overnight Lodging $70.00 per night

Food $30.00 per day

Registration forms or attendance verification shall be supplied to the Auditor’s Office for payment with the department head’s signature. If a form cannot be supplied, a letter will be accepted.

Registration and lodging can be paid directly to the vendor if advance notice is given in order to process the payment. If the funds are paid to the vendor and funds are disbursed back they need to be paid to Wise County.

It is at the sole discretion of the department head if a receipt is required for expenses totaling less than under $100.00. (The Sheriff’s Department will require receipts.)

If the employee spends over $100.00, the funds will be reimbursed only with the necessary receipts.

Meals and travel will ONLY be paid if the budget line item for travel (mileage and food) and Conference/Lodging and Dues have the allocated budget and if funds are not available, you will need to address Commissioner’s Court for a budget amendment.

NO FEAR!

Remember when you were a kid, and you used to get chain letters from your friends? You had to send a copy of the letter to more friends, and you would be lucky, healthy, wealthy, or wise. Sometimes, you had to include money and send the letter to someone on a list; this is a typical illegal pyramid chain letter scheme.

Now comes the internet and email. You don’t have to send money, but you should forward this “email” letter to five of your friends and “something” will happen, or ten of your friends and “something else” will happen.

Of course, if you fall for it, what was promised doesn’t happens. Why?

Some of these email chains are so old, they were developed before savvy programmers figured out how to read your address book. So, if I want to send my home-made virus, how do I get you to pass it along? I send you a cute e-mail, and tell you to send it on so something special will happen! Something special happens, sure...you and your friends get a virus.