Community Police & Fire
Gig Harbor Police Blotter: Creative hiding space for contraband
Editor’s note: The Blotter is written based on information provided by Gig Harbor Police and Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One.
Officers responding to a report of a verbal dispute between a man and woman walking on Harborview Drive recovered drugs creatively hidden on one suspect’s person.
The male suspect gave officers a false name, a ruse which didn’t fool them for long. Using a mobile fingerprint scanner, an officer determined that the suspect was the subject of a King County arrest warrant for unlawful possession of a firearm.
The suspect tried to play “make a deal” with one officer, offering to tell him the location of first drugs and then guns. The officer declined the bargain, but it turned out the drugs were very close by.
The man told officers he had hidden drugs in “his rectal area.” The officer called Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One to check the suspect for possible contamination. While medics were en route, the man removed the drugs and turned them over to the officer, who presumably wore exra strength gloves to take possession of them.
Officers took the male suspect to the Kitsap County Jail, where corrections staff found still more drugs in the man’s underwear. The suspect was booked into jail on suspicion of making a false statement to law enforcement.
The female involved in the original dispute told an officer that the incident was verbal only.
DUI suspect nearly hit a police car head-on
Police arrested a 62-year-old Gig Harbor man on suspicion of driving under the influence when he nearly ran head-on into a GHPD car after going the wrong way through the Harborview-Stinson roundabout.
The incident happened around 9:15 p.m Aug. 5. The suspect vehicle, a Cadillac sedan, swerved out of the way of the patrol car at the last moment.
The driver later told the arresting officer that he’d had just one drink that night, and lamented the fact that he was only a block from home when he was arrested.
She did, in fact, end up looking stupid
Foolish pride apparently contributed to a 23-year-old Tacoma woman’s arrest for shoplifting at a Gig Harbor store around 9:30 p.m. Aug. 8.
A Gig Harbor officer had stationed himself near the store entrance to deter shoplifting. The officer’s report noted that shoplifters often target stores near closing time, when fewer employees remain on shift.
The woman pushed a cartful of unpaid merchandise out the door despite the officer’s presence, nodding at the officer and also setting off security alarms.
The woman later told the officer that even though she saw him near the entrance, she “didn’t want to look stupid” and decided to follow through with her theft. She had more than $700 worth of merchandise in the cart, including bottles of liquor and two cases of beer.
Officers booked her into the Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of third-degree theft.
The scene of a fire on 144th Street on Aug. 9.
No injuries in house fire
Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One firefighters extinguished a blaze at a home on 144th Street early on the morning of Aug. 9.
The only resident of the home evacuated before firefighters arrived and did not report any injuries. The American Red Cross, neighbors and others are helping the resident with housing and other needs.
The Pierce County Fire Marshal initiated an investigation of the cause of the fire in the manufactured home.
Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One firefighters, with help from several other agencies, rescued someone who fell down a 50-foot embankment this week.
Firefighters rescue person after 50-foot fall
Gig Harbor firefighters, with help from several other agencies, rescued a person who fell 50 feet down an embankment on Friday, Aug. 4.
Responders had to rig up a rope system to get the patient up the steep incline. The Tacoma, West Pierce and Central Pierce fire departments and the Gig Harbor Police Department helped.