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What every cop dreads, blood on doorknob, suspect hiding

Neighbors in the 200 block of Andrieux Street called police on the night of Dec. 1 after they heard loud shouting, banging and the sound of breaking glass. When officers arrived at the home and rang the doorbell, no one answered, but they saw a curtain move and a face behind it. They rang and knocked some more and finally a woman opened the door with blood on her face and shirt. There was more blood on the doorknob.

Officers saw a man standing behind her and the two were ordered out of the home.

The man quickly stepped out of view through a doorway, at which point police removed the woman from the home and found themselves confronted with a situation every cop dreads – a violent domestic argument with one party non-compliant, out of sight and potentially armed.

The woman refused to explain the blood on her face and told officers to “ask my boyfriend.”

Police set up a perimeter around the home, evacuated the neighbors and called for a canine unit. The woman continued to refuse to cooperate, resisted removal and was ultimately charged with resisting a peace officer.

When the dog arrived, officers entered the home, clearing one room at a time with the dog in the lead, until they arrived at a back bedroom, at which point the dog alerted them there was someone inside.

After entering the room officers saw a large picture window above the bed had been shattered, and in the bed, under the covers, the dog found the suspect and bit him on the head.

The 42-year-old man was charged with assault/domestic violence, resisting arrest and a probation violation. The assault charge would have been a felony, but for the fact that the 39-year-old victim/girlfriend refused to cooperate with police, would not describe what happened and never said her boyfriend actually attacked her. According to his arrest record, the man had at least two other arrests for domestic violence, one involving the current girlfriend.

Following a court appearance the felony assault charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.

In other incidents reported to local law enforcement.

Monday, Nov. 19:

11:09 a.m. – Not my pants. A resident of Appleton Way reported to police that he received a phone call from the upscale New York department store Barney’s, inquiring whether he had ordered a $279 pair of blue jeans to be shipped to Anaheim. The cardholder said he had not ordered the jeans and didn’t live in Anaheim. The order was cancelled.

7:02 p.m. – Is that a bottle of Captain Morgan’s spiced rum in your pants, or …? Police received a call that two male juveniles were in custody at the Sonoma Rite Aid store after they had tried to smuggle two bottles of booze out of the store.

A Rite Aid loss prevention officer had seen the boys acting suspiciously in the store a week earlier and retrieved surveillance video of their visit. The footage showed the two entering the store and revealed one boy stuffing bottles of alcohol in his pants while the other boy acted as a lookout.

Upon seeing the boys return, the store officer went to the security monitor and witnessed one boy stand guard while the other stuffed a fifth of Captain Morgan’s spiced rum, and a fifth of UV Blue raspberry vodka – an alcoholic beverage popularly used in the “Blue Bombsicle,” a fruit-flavored concoction popular with younger drinkers – into the waistband of his pants.

The officer confronted the pair outside and returned them to the store where police questioned them.

The 18-year-old lookout protested that his role in the caper did not warrant being arrested. The 16-year-old boy with the booze in his pants expressed remorse. Both were charged with petty theft and the 16-year-old was cited to the custody of a family member.

Wednesday, Nov. 21:

10:09 a.m. – Three bikes disappear. A resident in the 500 block of Joaquin Drive reported that sometime during the previous night or day, someone stole three road bikes from his garage where they had been hanging from rafters. Missing was a large men’s Giant road bike valued at $800; a medium-large Giant road bike valued at $800; and an extra-large men’s OCR road bike, valued at $700.

2:08 p.m. – Stolen Volvo, wrong-way witness. Police received a report from a witness in the 1200 block of Broadway that a man and a woman had been fighting, and that the man had subsequently ridden off on a bicycle while the woman drove southbound on Broadway in a Volvo.

The witness provided the 1994 Volvo’s license plate number, police ran the tag and learned it had been stolen from San Rafael. Officers raced down Broadway in search of the car, aided by Henry 1, the Sheriff’s helicopter, but the car could not be found. Further questioning of the direction-challenged witness revealed that he meant the car was traveling toward the Plaza, which is actually northbound.

Police later spotted the stolen Volvo near a Sonoma rehabilitation facility and watched it for an hour in hopes the thieves would return. When they didn’t, officers searched the car and found a backpack containing a man’s clothes and a cell phone.

Police then learned the two suspects had hired a local cab to take them to Santa Rosa.

At week’s end police were tracking the owner of the cell phone and still looking for the car thieves.

Thursday, Nov. 22:

12:02 a.m. – Bad tags, drug bust. Police pulled over a red Pontiac Grand Am at Maxwell Village shopping center because the registration tag had expired. The woman at the wheel had an outstanding warrant for a burglary charge, and police found in her possession .3 grams of methamphetamine and a broken pill of Diazapam, commonly known as Valium.

Police arrested 49-year-old Casey Wallace of Graton for felony possession of a controlled substance, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, and the felony warrant. She was booked into the county jail.

Monday, Nov. 26:

8:40 p.m. – Mom’s out, son will do in a pinch. Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 29-year-old man in the 19000 block of Linden Street after they went to his residence to conduct a probation search on the man’s mother. When the son answered the door, he was holding onto a growling dog and deputies asked him more than once to put the dog in another room. When he finally did, deputies spotted a large knife in the man’s pants that they promptly relieved him of.

The man said his mother wasn’t home, that she was in the hospital, and he confirmed that he, himself, was on informal probation and proceeded to take the deputies to his room in the garage. There, he told them he had pipes, needles and marijuana in a drawer. During the subsequent search, deputies found two unmarked pill bottles, but the man said someone had given them to him and he claimed he didn’t know what they were. In a second drawer, the deputies found more drug paraphernalia, along with .6 grams of methamphetamine.

The man was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia and a probation violation. While the possession of a controlled substance is normally a felony, the District Attorney’s office filed the charge as a misdemeanor.