Police beat: You want nacho fries with that black tar heroin? How about a baseball bat with that makeup? | The News Tribune

Editor’s note: Compiled from reports to Tacoma police and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

Jan. 30: Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move to hide the drugs under the nacho fries. Of course, driving with a suspended license and parking at the hardware store at 1:50 a.m. for a munchfest wasn’t too bright, either.

The two sheriff’s deputies spotted the blue Toyota Corolla in the store parking lot, near the intersection of Pacific Avenue South and Military Road East. The taillights weren’t working, and the store was closed. The deputies flashed patrol car lights, stopped the car and ran through the routine.

They found four people in the car. The driver, 27, admitted he didn’t have a valid license. A package of nacho fries doused in cheese sauce sat in his lap.

One deputy noticed a plastic baggie under the fries: an obvious tell. He asked the driver to pick up the food. The driver did, revealing the baggie. The contents, dark little pebbles, looked familiar: black tar heroin.

The deputies cuffed the man and asked him about the drugs. Did he have any more in the car?

The man said no. He said the heroin was his. He apologized. He said the deputies might have saved his life.

A records check showed nothing on the passengers, but the driver had a pair of active arrest warrants and a suspended driver’s license. Deputies released the car to one of the passengers, and booked the man into the Pierce County Jail on the warrants and suspicion of drug possession.

Jan. 28: The fight started over makeup. It ended with a mother brandishing a baseball bat, and a punch in the nose.

Two Tacoma police officers responded to a reported domestic fight, and drove to an address in the 6800 block of South Oakes Street. They found four women: two mothers and two daughters.

One of the mothers, 37, stood outside with her daughter, 17. The mother had made the original call to 911. She and her daughter, both angry, shouted so much that officers couldn’t understand the dispute at first.

Finally they asked the mother if she lived at the address. Answer: No. Her daughter’s friend lived there.

One officer went to the house and spoke to the women inside. The second mother, 37, said her daughter, 18, had been punched after an argument about makeup got physical.

Stories from the four women merged in a narrative. The daughters were friends, but they’d had a disagreement about makeup items and ownership.

The mother outside had driven her daughter to the house and told her to pick up her stuff. The daughter went in, pushed past her friend inside, opened a dresser and started rummaging.

That was too much. “You’re not going through my stuff,” the second daughter said.

The first daughter threw a punch. The mother in the house intervened. The first daughter went outside to get her mother, who brought a baseball bat and snapped a few threats.

Eventually, the mother outside put the bat away, went into the house and confronted the second mother, whose daughter stood behind her.

The first mother threw a punch. She missed the target and hit the daughter in the face.

By now, officers had decided that the mother with the bat was the aggressor, but she was still yelling at one of the officers. They cuffed her. Her daughter walked to the car. The officer warned her to leave the baseball bat alone. The daughter replied with a curse. She was cuffed, too. He mother shouted at her to calm down.

The mother said she thought her daughter was in danger; that was why she picked up the bat. She admitted going into the house without being invited, and said it was wrong. She denied punching the other daughter.

“I’m not a violent person,” she said, repeatedly.

Officers uncuffed the daughter and decided to release her so she could go home. They booked the mother into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of misdemeanor assault.

Jan. 28: The white Honda Civic didn’t look right at all. For one thing, it had no wheels.

For another, it was parked along a grassy utility right-of-way near the intersection of 72nd Avenue East and Waller Road East, where it wasn’t supposed to be. A sheriff’s deputy on routine patrol spotted the car, and sent a dispatch message before taking a closer look.

As she relayed her location, a man with a backpack stepped out of the Civic.

The man gave his name. He said he was just sleeping in the car. The deputy told him to stick around. She ran a records check on the car.

The answer was fishy: The car wasn’t stolen. No sign of abandonment, registration current. The owner had an active phone number.

The man with the backpack fidgeted, looking like he might run. Another deputy arrived and kept an eye on him.

The first deputy called a phone number linked to the man who owned the car. His mother answered. She said her son was on vacation in Florida.

She figured the car was stolen. It had disappeared a day earlier. She shared her son’s number. The deputy called it.

The son said he was flying back home shortly. He knew the car was missing, but hadn’t reported it yet because he was out of state. The car had been locked, and no one had permission to use it, he said.

Deputies cuffed the man with the backpack. They told him the car was stolen. He said he didn’t know. He said he was walking by the car when it started raining, so he got inside.

Deputies searched the man and found a baggie of meth. They booked him into the Pierce County Jail on suspicion of drug possession and possession of stolen property. The Civic was impounded.