Snowy roads, stuck cars, lead to arrests

The season’s local record-setting weather has struck again, this time working against people who allegedly broke the law.

Havre city police officers arrested three people from Friday through Sunday after receiving calls about vehicles that were stuck in snow. Two people were arrested on four total drug-related charges and for allegedly violating parole. An additional two suspects were on the loose as of Monday afternoon, Lt. Aaron Wittmer of the department said.

A 10th Avenue caller reported Friday at 6:57 a.m. that a car got stuck in the dead end near his home. The people who came out of the car tried to use his shovel to get out, the caller reported. During a second call about the same incident, the caller told the operator the people took off running.

Lt. Aaron Wittmer said there were five people in the vehicle when it got stuck. Two of them stood by and later spoke to officers. The other three took off.

It didn’t take officers long to find a suspect and arrest him on charges of obstructing a peace officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of dangerous drugs and on a Justice or City court warrant, Wittmer said.

He was allegedly found with marijuana on him. The other two — the ones who fled — Wittmer said, will be arrested or ticketed when found.

Officers arrested two people Sunday after stopping to assist with a vehicle that was stuck near 12th Avenue and Eighth Street.

One was arrested for violating parole and another was arrested on charges of possession of dangerous drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia. Wittmer said, again, the drugs found were pot, adding the report was incomplete and may contain other details.

Havre has received more than 78 inches of snow this season already, a pace scheduled to double its snow record.

The season’s weather conditions are certainly unique, said Sgt. Ryan Pearson of the Havre Police Department, so idiosyncratic, he added, that it’s difficult to know if there is a real correlation between the amount of snow an area receives and the apprehension of criminals.

Pearson said he had been with the Havre Police Department for nine years, and he has never seen so much snow. His guess is the weekend’s arrests that resulted from cars getting stuck in the snow are just a coincidence, but he did leave room for doubt. The sample is too small to assert that piles of snow leads to more apprehensions.