Police Blotter

Suspicious characters, damaged cars, and free drinks on campus

Timothy Spierings

More stories from Timothy Spierings

Police+Blotter

Photo by Submitted

The following information was obtained from UW-Eau Claire Police Department records.

College Crash

Campus police received a call at about 8:35 p.m. on Feb. 16 from a campus employee regarding a crash in the Towers parking lot.

The subject reported that he had struck a vehicle when removing snow with a University-owned front end loader.

The vehicle damaged received a cracked rear bumper, a broken tail light and a dented right rear quarter panel. The officer photographed the damage to the vehicle and attempted to contact a family member of the owner of the car, found through the student directory.

After identifying the vehicle owner, the officer attempted to make contact with the student who owned the vehicle, and left a message.

Free Drinks in Haas

An officer was walking through the Haas Fine Arts Center at about 4:35 p.m. on Feb. 17 when he noticed multiple full soda and water bottles on top of a Pepsi vending machine. After checking further, the officer discovered the machine would dispense bottles without having to deposit money into the machine.

The officer counted 12 bottles of soda and water on the vending machine, and placed them on a heater behind the machine. As the officer was searching for the power cord of the machine, he pulled the cord and the power went out on the machine in question. The officer checked to make sure that nothing would dispense once the machine had no power.

The officer initially failed to find contact information on the vending machine for a vendor.  However, he eventually found the information after being requested to follow up on the case by checking the service desk in Davies for information on the vendor of the vending machine. After receiving the phone number for custodial services, the officer attempted contact at 11:40 a.m., however he was ultimately unsuccessful.

Another officer informed the officer of a potential vendor of the machine. The officer contacted an employee at the vendor, who stated that he was aware of the issue and that it would be taken care of.

Mistaken Identity

A resident from Marilyn Karlgaard Hall contacted the campus police on Feb. 17. She stated that there was a suspicious male subject in the lobby of Towers Hall who appeared out of place to her. The resident stated that he eventually went into the basement, and that he appeared to be in his 30’s and was wearing a green coat.

The officer checked the building and found the subject sitting on a bench in the basement. The subject was identified as a student who worked for the Campus Cab, and was waiting for his shift to start at 12:00 a.m.

Spierings can be reached at [email protected].