Bristol Police Log: Bristol bandstand damaged in July, police kept busy with many incidents
BRISTOL — At 12:14 a.m. on July 4 Bristol police looked into a report of a man with a crowbar chasing cars on West Street near Airport Drive. Police said in a report of July activity that they just released that they found the man at a nearby home.
The man told the officer that he had been involved in an argument with another man earlier in the day and he thought the vehicle was that man returning. The suspect told police that he did not have a crowbar.
Also in July, Bristol police conducted town-contracted traffic patrols on 18 occasions. They covered Route 116 South and North, Cove Road, Lincoln Road, Briggs Hill Road, Monkton Road, Hardscrabble Road and Lovers Lane. Officers issued several tickets and warnings for minor offenses. They looked for overweight trucks on two occasions but did not find any.
In other action during the month of July, Bristol police:
• Received a report on July 1 from a district resident that her 16-year-old daughter had left home and was at her boyfriend’s in Chittenden County without permission. A Vermont State Police trooper went to the residence where the girl was reported to be and told the girl to call Bristol police to resolve the situation. The girl did and was told to go home. The girl told police she was going to file paperwork the following day to start the process of becoming an emancipated minor. She was later taken to a relative’s residence in another Addison County town with parental approval.
• Received a set of car keys, on July 2, found by a Pine Street resident. Police photographed the keys and posted the picture on the department Facebook page. The owner noticed the post and recovered the keys.
• Investigated a reported group of juveniles drinking at the Hub Skatepark on July 3. An officer arrived, but the juveniles had left.
• Went to a business on Pine Street to assist with a potentially unruly individual on July 3, but the officer found nothing.
• Were given a brown purse, on July 3, found by an anonymous woman, and returned it to its owner.
• Helped a woman in distress on West Pleasant Street on July 3. The Bristol Rescue Squad took the woman to Porter Hospital.
• Received a call about a runaway juvenile on July 3. The juvenile returned home before police could make a call to the mother.
• Responded to a complaint, at around 1 a.m. on July 4, from a West Street resident who reported that someone was yelling at him from across the street, calling him names and telling him to put out his fire. Police checked but found nothing.
• Conducted traffic control on West Street for the Outhouse Race and Fourth of July parade. Several items that were found on the ground were turned over to police.
• Saw a criminally suspended driver passing a traffic point on July 4. Court action is pending.
• Found a dog on July 4 that had slipped its collar and gone missing after the July 3 fireworks. Police returned the dog to its owner.
• Investigated an uneventful vehicle crash in the Rite Aid parking lot on July 4, and later took a report from a female involved in a crash at the same place.
• Assisted VSP with a one-car crash on north Route 116 on July 5.
• Checked local businesses on July 5. All appeared secure.
• Investigated a report of two children stuck in a town drain pipe on July 5. Police couldn’t hear anyone in the pipe, so they contacted the fire department to help search. Police then searched at the Hub teen center and found two kids who admitted to playing in the pipe.
• Received information regarding drug activity within the district on July 6. An investigation is ongoing.
• Checked the welfare of an individual on Main Street on July 6.
• Checked on a home on July 6 for a home owner who was on vacation out of state.
• Were contracted to assist with traffic control for Don Weston Excavating, as they installed new traffic lights at Main and West streets on July 7-8. No one showed or called to cancel either day.
• Were notified of a dog locked in a car, in apparent distress, at a Pine Street business at around 4 p.m. on July 7. Police checked both parking lots but did not find any dogs in cars.
• Investigated reported gun shots in the area of Elm Street on July 7, but found no one.
• Were dispatched to Mount Abraham Union High School close to 9 a.m. to help Bristol Fire Department rescue a person stuck in the second-floor elevator. Police arrived to find the fire department had already departed.
• Received, on July 8, a Vermont driver’s license that had been found on Prince Lane. The license had no current address, so police mailed it back to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
• Stopped a silver car swerving all over the road, heading south on Monkton Road on July 9 at 1:45 p.m. The driver, who had a history of medical issues, was cleared by Bristol rescue.
• Responded to an alarm at the National Bank of Middlebury on Main Street on July 11; an employee had set it off inadvertently.
• Investigated a vehicle reported stolen from a Bristol parking lot on July 11. UVM police located the vehicle in the Burlington area and charged a suspect.
• Were dispatched to the Rite Aid parking lot to investigate a child reported riding in the lap of a driver. The officer found no vehicle matching the description.
• Received a complaint on July 13 from a Mountain Street resident who reported that his vehicle had been backed into and damaged on July 9 while it had been parked on School Street for a funeral.
• Assisted a trooper on Quaker Street in Starksboro on July 13 with a subject who was refusing to leave a property when asked and was becoming disorderly.
• Investigated an alarm activated by an interior motion sensor at MAUHS on July 13. Police found no open doors and checked the interior near where the alarm had been activated but found nothing suspicious.
• Investigated a July 14 complaint about items stolen from a West Pleasant Street garage. Police identified possible suspects.
• Received a report from the Department for Children and Families of a possible registered sex offender living at a residence with children at Kountry Trailer Park and checked their welfare on July 14. The individual was not living there.
• Investigated a complaint at Kountry Trailer Park of a dog barking while the resident was out walking. Police found no evidence of a violation of the Bristol animal control ordinance.
• Received on July 15 a set of found car keys and placed them in the department’s lost and found.
• Took a report from a citizen about a lost purse on July 15. On July 16 police were informed that the purse had been located.
• On July 16 investigated, with VSP, a panic alarm set off at the ATM at the National Bank of Middlebury. Officers determined that the alarm was set off accidentally.
• Assisted Bristol Rescue Squad with a 25-year-old male who was having difficulty breathing.
• Took part in hands-on K-9 training and tracking on July 16.
• Took a report of stolen jewelry on July 16.
• Mediated a custodial transfer on Munsill Avenue on July 16.
• Took a report of minor crash in the area of Main Street on July 7.
• Sent the animal control officer to help with a cat caught in a tree on July 18.
• Responded to a call about dogs locked in a car with the windows up in front of Snap’s Restaurant on July 18, but were unable to locate the vehicle.
• Discovered cocaine on Pleasant Street at 9:30 a.m. on July 17, and placed the drug in the police evidence room.
• Investigated a report of vandalism to the bandstand on the town green. Police arrived to find that a rail on the east side was broken off, with part of the railing on the ground and a hole in the decking. Police collected the wood from the broken railing and taped the bandstand off. The bandstand was repaired the next day.
• Investigated a possible drug deal at the park on July 19. Police obtained plate numbers of vehicles involved, and were advised to conduct extra patrols.
• Spoke with a resident who reported receiving a call from a person looking to buy drugs on July 20. The unknown caller had apparently misdialed the resident. Police are investigating.
• Investigated an alarm going off at MAUHS on July 20 at around 6 p.m. Police found all exterior doors secure, but found an interior door that was not closed well.
• Investigated an alarm at MAUHS on July 13 but found nothing suspicious.
• Looked into a July 21 report that a vehicle had hit a street sign, then a telephone pole at the corner of Pine and North streets and left the scene. Police located the vehicle and driver in the Rite Aid parking lot. The teenage driver was very upset and was on the phone with her father when located. Police completed a crash report.
• Received a report, as required by the U.S. Department of Justice, from an area firearms dealer regarding multiple sales of pistols. Police found no problems.
• Picked up and disposed of broken glass bottles and a syringe in the roadway near the intersection of Munsill Avenue and West Pleasant Street on July 22.
• Informed a parole officer that a subject known to have court-ordered conditions of staying away from alcohol may have been seen frequenting bars in Bristol on July 22. Police said the subject was on parole after being convicted of a DUI that resulted in a death.
• Responded to a report of a six-year-old choking at a Pine Street residence on July 22. Police found the child breathing OK and that the obstruction had been cleared by the family. Police stood by until the Bristol Rescue Squad arrived and checked the child.
• Assisted VSP on July 22 with locating a male reportedly involved in a theft. Bristol police found him at his residence and stood by until a trooper arrived.
• Conducted traffic control for Don Weston Excavating Co. on Main Street and West Street, while they changed the old traffic lights onto the new traffic light on July 23.
• Investigated a burglary alarm at the Bristol Municipal Offices on July 24. Police found that the building was secure and that the alarm had accidentally been set off by a town employee.
• Inspected a vehicle for a citizen, due to a New York traffic violation, on July 24.
• Recovered a purse at the storage units on Prince Avenue and returned it to its owner on July 26.
• Recovered a Vermont Non-Driver Identification Card lost at the Three Day Stampede and mailed the card to the owner on July 26. Police also found medical cards belonging to someone who was deceased, and destroyed the cards.
• Investigated a report of two dogs left unattended in a truck on Prince Lane on July 26 and determined the dogs were OK.
• Together with Bristol Fire Department escorted Bristol resident Debra Brown through the village on July 26. Brown had just returned from out of state where she had won the women’s world championship for horseshoes.
• Found a pair of sunglasses on West Street near the park on July 26. No owner was identified.
• Investigated a reported attempt to defraud the Three Day Stampede of approximately $50 worth of items. An unknown person, claiming to be a Stampede volunteer, reportedly collected money from a woman making a purchase.
• Removed three traffic cones found in the middle of a parking space near the corner of West and North streets on July 26. Police found no identification on the cones and took them to the department office.
• Took a report of a minor traffic crash at Jackman’s Fuels on July 27.
• Provided a Monkton woman who reported losing her driver’s license while on a trip to Maine with a lost license form from the Department of Motor Vehicles website on July 27.
• Investigated a call from a Munsill Avenue resident of people in a neighboring apartment making noise by stomping up stairs and slamming cupboard doors at 1:12 a.m. on July 28. Police attempted to make contact with the neighbors but no one would answer the door. All was quiet when the officer was there.
• Responded to three email complaints from a resident regarding issues with a neighbor on July 28. Police found nothing of a criminal nature, and referred the resident to the landlord.
• Cited Jonah S. Kleinfeldt, 40, of Bristol for driving with a suspended license on July 28.
• At the father’s request, checked the welfare of a seven-year-old boy while the boy was at his mother’s on July 28. Police found the boy safe but upset because he did not want to do what his mother asked.
• Checked village businesses on July 29, found two unsecured businesses and secured them.
• Found two unsecured doors at a village district business at around 12:20 a.m. on July 30, and secured the business.
• Recovered a blue and silver mountain bike, believed to have been stolen, at Bristol Fitness on School Street on July 30. Police posted a picture of the bike on Facebook, and a man confirmed the bike was his.
• Investigated evidence at Bristol Elementary School, on July 31, that someone had been on the roof and opened an attic hatch. Police found that no damage had been caused.
• Contacted, on July 31, the father of a 16-year-old boy who reported intercepting an email sent from the former boyfriend of his ex-wife. The email discussed sex and was sent unsolicited. Police reviewed the email and warned the sender against sending further messages.
• Spoke with the loss prevention person for a downtown business on July 31. Police learned that a terminated employee had been talking about a firearm sometime after being terminated, but had not directly threatened the business or staff. Police will give the business increased attention.
• Took to the humane society a stray golden retriever found at Woodland Drive on July 31.