You would expect some odd things to happen at the sheriff's office and jail, but some are almost beyond belief. Take a little incident that happened Tuesday for example.
Since the sheriff's office is part of my beat, I'm in and out of the office from time to time. I went out Tuesday to talk to Sheriff Jason Mosher about a recent arrest and a couple of other story ideas. I noticed a couple of young men in a dark car parked beside me. When I got out of my truck I could see a sweating, extra large can of beer in the drivers cup holder. I thought to myself, "Well, that's not real smart," then went on into the jail. They buzzed me in and I signed in as usual.
I was at the desk talking with Sgt. Dan Miller about the DARE program when the sheriff walked up and was immediately told a caller asked to speak to him. They spoke briefly as Mosher tried to convince the caller he was actually the sheriff. The caller apparently didn't believe him.
Mosher discovered the man was in the parking lot and told him to come in and he could verify he was indeed talking with the sheriff.
A man soon came to the window and announced he wanted to speak with the sheriff. He was the same man I has seen in the car parked beside me.
Mosher said, "I am the sheriff" and showed the man his badge much closer than was necessary.
The man became a bit irate, fidgety and said, " I know the sheriff and you're not him."
Mosher then pressed his photo ID to the window for the man to see. He was still skeptical, and did not believe Mosher, so a deputy went out to speak with him.
Mosher and I went to his office to talk. After a few minutes, a deputy came in and said the man reeked of alcohol. The deputy tried to reason with the man, but he just became more irrational and uncooperative, so the deputy asked him to leave. He left and through the window Mosher and I could see him pacing up and down the sidewalk and shadow boxing.
He was obviously very upset. It seems his wife had been arrested on one drug charge and then charged again in a separate incident. The man was convinced they were trying to charge her twice for the same crime.
He finally got in his car and sped away while we watched. A deputy hustled out of the building to catch him behind the wheel, but that wasn't really necessary because everything the sheriff and I witnessed was captured on the jail's external security camera.
At Austin Boulevard the suspect turned left, the deputy turned right. The suspect only went a block and then turned into a local business to hide. Again, we could see him pacing and boxing. Officers thought they had the car located going west over the overpass on Austin Boulevard, but radio communications relayed the suspects location and deputies moved in. By the time they found him, he had picked up another passenger and someone else was driving. Too late for subterfuge, the man was arrested and taken back to the jail for processing.
The man was placed on a 24-hour hold and Mosher said the sheriff's office is seeking charges. The man's drivers license has been revoked and he was required to have an ignition interlock device on his vehicle to prevent anyone who had been drinking from driving the car.
Instead of doing what he was supposed to do, he ended up in the county jail.
