Police Blotter

Campus police stopped a serial skateboarder and dealt with a drug case this past week

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Photo by Submitted

Story by Anne Sandell, Chief Copy Editor

Stop that skateboard

An officer issued a warning to a student for skateboarding through a school building, last week.

On Tuesday Oct. 25 at approximately 9:31 p.m. an officer was in a campus building for a service related issue when the officer observed a male, slowly riding a skateboard through the hallway towards the officers direction.

The subject was talking on a cellphone and stopped skateboarding when he saw the officer.

According to the report, the subject was roughly halfway down the hallway when he got off his skateboard, picked it up and began walking the opposite direction from the campus police.

After campus police completed the service related issue, the officer conducted foot patrol within the building. The officer observed the same subject, talking on his cellphone, slowly riding his skateboard on the same floor of the building as before.

The officer made contact with the subject and requested he end his cell phone conversation.

Campus police explained to the subject that the riding of skateboards, according to the report also considered “play vehicles”, was prohibited in UW- Eau Claire buildings. The officer informed the subject this was due to safety concerns, and also to limit damage to floors in the building.

The subject stated he understood and apologized.

According to the report, the officer spoke with the subject about enforcement options, and verbally warned him for his behavior. The officer answered the subjects questions and the subject went on his way, off his skateboard.

Campus police said the subject was cooperative during the contact. There were no prior skateboarding contacts with the subject.

 

Come on in, the weed is mine

A Eau Claire student chose to go into the Eau Claire County Diversion Program after being caught smoking in his dorm, Saturday.

On Oct. 29 at around 12:24 a.m., officers were dispatched to investigate an illegal substance report in Murray hall. The comm center advised that the complainant, a resident assistant, detected the odor of marijuana coming from a dorm room.

Officers arrived on scene and made contact with the RA in the hall director’s office. The RA notified the officers that while performing midnight rounds, she and another resident assistant detected the odor of marijuana.

The RA said when she and another RA detected the odor of marijuana around the door frame of the room in question and also heard someone spraying an aerosol can within the room. A third person confirmed the odor was marijuana.

Campus police went to the floor in question and could detect the odor of marijuana mixed with air freshener coming from the room. Officers checked other rooms in the area and did not detect the odor coming from another room, they could also hear a television inside.

Officers knocked loudly on the door and a male subject opened it. He informed the officer he lived in the room.

When campus police asked for consent to enter the room to speak with the subject, he stated “yeah, go ahead” and walked into the room leaving the door open behind him.

Once inside the room, the officer could detect the odor of marijuana and observed the subject was alone in the room. Officers explained to the subject they had received a complaint about the odor of marijuana coming from his room.

Campus police asked the subject if he had recently smoked marijuana within the room and he said he had smoked a joint inside the room roughly one or two hours prior to police arrival.

According to the report, the officer requested that the subject retrieve the marijuana and illegal items he had within the room. The subject advised that he did not have anything illegal and that he had smoked all the marijuana that he had in his possession.

The subject then told police he may have some rolling papers in the room and an unopened bottle of vodka in his desk drawer. He then removed a 1.5 liter of Phillips vodka.

Officers asked the subject if he would give them consent to search his belongings to confirm his statements, to which consent was granted.

Campus police conducted a search of the subjects belongings and located a baggie of green plant material (which from training and experience police identified as marijuana), a pack of rolling papers, a glass pipe inside the subject dresser and a metal grinder inside of a computer case in his desk.

The subject apologized and said he had forgotten about those items.

Officers asked the subject if he had ever had any contact with police before for drug use, he advised police he had not.

Campus police explained the Eau Claire County Diversion Program to the subject and provided him with an agreement form to read. The subject agreed to participate in the diversion program.

Afterwards, officers provided the subject with his copy of the agreement form and explained the form answering his questions. He then disposed of the vodka in the presence of the officers and officers transported the rest of the evidence to the property room.