Reaching for his chicken, man loses control, rams light pole

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River Falls police found a smashed, abandoned Ford Escape and a heavily damaged city light pole across from ShopKo on Paulson Road late Friday night. When officers finally located the 51-year-old local driver at his home, the suspect was described as incoherent and intoxicated. The man did explain that he’d bought a chicken at a gas station and was driving home. The chicken dropped, the man bent to pick it off the floor. When he looked up he was veering off the road and facing a light pole.

The officer who questioned the driver said he had a bloody nose and redness around his forehead.

The man’s SUV was towed to the city impound lot. He was given citations for inattentive driving, hit and run, and failing to notify police of an accident that totaled more than $450.

River Falls Police also:

--Arrested a 19-year-old UW-RF student who lives in the 100 block of South Fourth Street for drug possession with intent to deliver, drug paraphernalia possession and underage drinking at his rental address late Friday night. Officers were sent there because of a disturbance among roommates. In the student’s room, drug-related items were reported seized as evidence, including packaged marijuana that appeared ready to sell. Charges are pending with the Pierce County district attorney.

--Investigated the burglary of a rental duplex in the 600 block of East Cemetery Road early last week. The tenants, two UW-RF students, were away gambling at a casino in Red Wing, Minn., when their basement apartment was forcibly entered. Taken was cash from a safe, an Apple Macbook computer, two pairs of Nike Air Jordan tennis shoes and various baseball hats. The case is still open.

--Investigated the theft of a Domino’s Pizza delivery car sign late Friday night in the downtown alley behind Domino’s. The driver whose car sign was stolen is a 21-year-old local man. The sign was mounted to the top of his car and plugged in on the inside by a cord.

--Investigated the vandalism of a car owned by a 22-year-old local woman that was parked in the 300 block of East Walnut Street earlier this month. The car was creased and dented, with someone urinating on the inside and defecating on the back bumper. A door to the car would no longer close, a tire was left flat, and personal papers and clothing from the inside were scattered in the street and nearby yards. Officers were questioning neighbors and tenants from a college fraternity house.

--Investigated the claims of 21-year-old woman who said she was choked twice by her boyfriend last week in her apartment in the 400 block of South Wasson Lane. The suspect is said to live close by with his mother. The female victim said the couple argued about her getting a late-night cell phone call from a friend in jail. The boyfriend took the woman’s phone and threw it against a wall where it broke. The woman said she was choked so bad she couldn’t even scream for help. Officers found welts on her neck. The woman did say she fought back, at one point punching the boyfriend in the face. She had blood on her shirt and arms, which she claimed came from the bloody nose she gave him.

For more Police Beat, please read the April 13 print edition of the River Falls Journal.

Tags: crime and courts, river falls, news, accidents, fccnetwork