Coulee Cops

Grand Coulee Police

7/31 - A Main Street man’s girlfriend crawled from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat of his vehicle while he was unloading items at their residence. She said she was going to Idaho, possibly to see her child who lives there. The man was uncertain about pressing charges and simply wished for his vehicle to be located so he could retrieve it. The car was listed as a vehicle to be located.

- Police were unable to locate a pit bulldog reportedly running loose on Weil Place.

8/1 - A vehicle was towed from Main Street and had been abandoned there for months with expired tabs. Since that time, the plates and one wheel had been removed from the vehicle.

- A Grand Coulee officer helped Coulee Dam Police arrest a woman spotted near the public bathrooms near the post office in Coulee Dam and wanted on multiple Okanogan County assault warrants. She was detained as police communicated with the county, which wouldn’t confirm the warrants, so she was free to go. Police told her how to handle the warrants and she thanked the officer.

- Close to midnight, a person reported an unoccupied police car parked on Midway Avenue as suspicious as well as a vehicle parked near the doors of Safeway. Police informed him the police car was parked there for an upcoming event and determined that the car at Safeway likely belonged to an employee.

- Police responded to an alarm activation at the UPS building on Van Tyne Avenue. An officer stood in front of the security cameras and was relayed info from a UPS security technician that they saw a balding man in dark blue clothing. The officer realized that the technician was looking at him in real time. The building didn’t appear to have been tampered with and the vehicles were observed to have nothing of value in them. A UPS employee was instructed to contact police if anything did turn out amiss.

- A man wanting to retrieve items from a camper said to be abandoned on property without paperwork at an E Street residence was told he is banned from the property, but could call the property owner ahead of time, as was told to police by the owner, to retrieve the items. The report notes the man is not physically capable of entering the camper himself. 

- Police checked on an unaccompanied child on Midway Avenue who had been enjoying some festivities. He had become separated from his grandmother who arrived shortly thereafter.

- A man had reportedly removed a playground sign at the city park on SR-174 and left with it on a bike. A bystander hadn’t seen anyone take a sign. The man who reported the theft showed police a wooden pole that had held the sign lying on the ground.  The man was not identified and police told the city that the sign, which informed motorists the playground was near, should be replaced.

- A large amount of trash was dumped on a woman’s Alcan Road property. Items dumped included a chair, broken mirror, and other trash. A Les Schwab receipt was found with a woman’s name and, when confronted by the property owner, admitted the receipt was hers but denied dumping the trash. When police talked to her, she explained that two men were going to dispose of the trash, which she is unable to do herself. Police spoke to the grandmother of one of the men who said she would tell her grandson to clean up the trash. Police explained that it could help his case, although still guilty of littering a large quantity. Police were unable to contact the other suspect.

- A vehicle was stopped by North Dam Park for having expired tabs. A passenger, wanted on arrest warrants, had exited the vehicle and walked away. An officer stopped him and he was arrested and taken to jail in Lincoln County.

8/2 - A man was told he was banned from Teepee Burger because his girlfriend’s children have caused issues in the past by cursing and flipping off employees. The man said he understood and would take his business elsewhere. 

- A woman stole about $240 worth of items from Safeway and was stopped by a manager outside the store, which is next to the police station. She admitted to stealing the items, saying she did so because of being homeless and addicted to drugs. She was cited for third-degree theft and told her court date in Ephrata and that if she didn’t show an arrest warrant would be issued. The items were returned to the store.

8/3 - At about 2:30 a.m., police were told there were “mini-donkeys” in the roadway of SR-174 between mile markers 23 and 24. Police looked, but saw no donkeys.

- The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office told police they were pursuing a stolen pickup heading towards Grand Coulee and to be on the lookout. The vehicle passed police going 89 miles per hour and police turned around to pursue it. Police saw the vehicle was smoking and saw it turn towards Spokane Way where it skidded to a stop. The driver exited the vehicle and ran. Police saw him in the sagebrush heading toward the water tanks. Police saw him hiding under a sheet of cardboard. The man was told to show his hands but he fled again. Police learned that state police had captured him and he was taken to Lincoln County Jail.

8/4 - A woman was told how to evict someone who had been staying on her E Street property and whom she wished to not be there anymore after a verbal altercation.

- A man is being banned from a Midway Avenue gas station after being verbally abusive towards the manager and a tanker truck driver who had been filling the gas tanks. 

8/5 - A man explained to police that his Buick had caught fire, but he had the fire extinguished before the fire department arrived. Police took note of burn damage to the passenger side. The owner made arrangements with the Chevron station where the car was to be parked over the weekend.

- A Roosevelt Drive resident showed police a bag that had maggots in it and possibly had some kind of fish in it. The bag seemed to have been thrown into her tree by an unknown suspect. Her dogs, who had eaten some of the drippings from the bag, had thrown up. No security footage was available to show who had thrown the bag over a fence into the tree.

- Police checked on a pickup parked on abandoned property at the request of the property owner who thought maybe someone was squatting there. Police didn’t see anyone there.

- Roosevelt Drive residents were told about noise ordinances regarding loud music.

Coulee Dam Police

7/30 - Police spoke to both parties of a traffic incident on 6th Street in which a woman backed into another woman’s pickup, damaging the bed. Both parties seemed to be working out the situation with their insurance companies.

- Police checked on a woman lying on the grass at the park near the post office in Coulee Dam. The woman was fine and was simply waiting for a friend who was in the restroom. 

7/31 - Police checked on the welfare of an Electric City man and learned he had changed his phone number, and that that was why people had been unable to contact him.

- A woman wanted on multiple warrants was seen by an officer walking in Coulee Dam. Multiple officers arrested her, but Okanogan County refused to accept her on her warrants and she was free to go.

8/2 - Police checked on a possible case of animal cruelty on Kelso Avenue in Electric City but found that dogs at a residence there had access to food, water, and shelter and were fine.

8/4 - A woman was arrested on Electric Boulevard and taken to Grant County Jail after turning herself in for violating a protection order against someone.

8/6 - Police took note of damage to a Columbia Avenue residence door where someone had unsuccessfully tried to break in. 

- No crime was committed, just a man and woman arguing at Coulee Playland. They were packing to leave when police spoke to them.