Community Police & Fire
Gig Harbor Police Blotter | Officers find baby in car with woman smoking fentanyl
Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police , Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers checking on a 31-year-old Federal Way woman in the parking lot of a department store on Point Fosdick Drive found a baby in the back seat of a car, covered up with blankets, while the mom smoked fentanyl.
An officer noticed the woman hunched over in the drivers seat of a car around 4:15 p.m. March 30. When the officer checked on her, he saw fentanyl in her lap. The officer also learned that the woman was the subject of an arrest warrant.
The officer took the woman into custody for the warrant, and she admitted to having used fentanyl. She gave the officer permission to search her vehicle, only at that point mentioning that her baby was in it.
The officer didn’t notice the baby at first, until he saw “a little hand come up from a pile of blankets on the floorboard.” In his report, the officer noted the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome given where the baby was lying and the danger of the child being exposed to fentanyl vapors.
Officers arrested the woman for the warrant and for child endangerment. A relative who lives in the area took custody of the child.
A few hours later, someone called 911 to report that the 31-year-old woman’s boyfriend was trying to get the baby back. The Federal Way woman was already out of jail. The officer told the 911 caller that the case was in the hands of Child Protective Services at that point.
Officers arrested the same woman about a week later for allegedly shoplifting from an office supply store on Borgen Boulevard. They found fentanyl in her car again, but the baby wasn’t there the second time. She was booked into the Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of theft.
Chase ensues after hit-and-run collision
The driver of a pickup caused two separate collisions on the evening of April 2 in Gig Harbor, with the driver of one of the cars he hit briefly giving chase.
At about 7:30 p.m. that day, a white Toyota Tacoma exited a business parking lot on Olympic Drive without stopping, colliding with a silver Hyundai.
Both vehicles stopped in a gas station parking lot and the drivers argued with each other. The Tacoma then fled the scene, with the Hyundai in pursuit.
While fleeing, the driver of the Tacoma hit another vehicle. The driver of that car told police the Tacoma deliberately rammed into it on 56th Street.
An officer located the pickup in a driveway. Officers spoke to a man there who appeared intoxicated, though he claimed he started drinking only after he got home. The intoxicated man argued that the collisions were not his fault, but officers had multiple witness accounts that contradicted him. Officers issues the 45-year-old Gig Harbor man a criminal citation for misdemeanor hit and run.
Fake basketball team scam
Police told a 22-year-old Lakewood man, whom they believed was raising funds for a fictitious youth basketball team, to stay away from the Safeway store on Point Fosdick Drive on the evening of March 25.
The store manager called police that evening because the man had set up a table outside the store, allegedly to raise funds for a team called the Northwest Panthers. Previous incidents indicate that no such team exists.
Officers issued the man a trespass admonition. If he is caught returning to the store, he could be charged with burglary.
A check of records revealed the Lakewood man had an extensive criminal history, but no outstanding warrants.