By Mary Jane Farmer for the Van Alstyne News/Scene in Town
Van Alstyne Police answered 1,072 calls for service between May 25 and June 8, reported Police
Lt. Steve Hayslip. Of these, they made numerous arrests.
Arrests
May 16 — A woman and her former husband, both from Crowley, Texas, were driving south on U.S. 75 with a child in the car when she called 911 reported her husband was driving while drinking. Police officers located the vehicle and the driver stopped for their overhead lights and siren. Hayslip said they did determine through standardized field testing that the ex-husband was intoxicated and placed him under arrest on a charge of driving while intoxicated.
Following protocol, which requires the officers to run the identification of everyone on scene, they learned of two outstanding warrants for her arrest. These, issued in Johnson County, charged her with assault causing bodily injury and criminal mischief between $100-$750. She, too, was placed under arrest.
Police turned custody of the child over to a relative.
Both suspects posted bail the following day for their release. Jail records show the surety bond releasing the male had “with conditions” on it.
May 27 — A Pottsboro man went to jail on a driving while intoxicated charge. Hayslip said that patrol officers made a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 75 after seeing the vehicle moving without its lights turned on. They found the driver reeking of alcohol and also smelled an odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. They jailed the man on a DWI charge and cited him for the small amount of marijuana they found. He posted bail of $1,500 in a surety bond the next day.
May 28 — Three men jailed following a U.S. 75 traffic stop are being held in Grayson County Jail on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold.
It was the vehicle’s defective headlights that caused Van Alstyne Police to pull the car over. Again, they smelled both alcohol and marijuana. After conducting a field-sobriety test, they jailed the driver, who according to jail records stated he is from Austin, on a DWI Charge, one passenger on a public intoxication charge, and the third on a charge of possession of controlled substance after finding fentanyl on him, Hayslip said. Also, at the jail, a second search uncovered some cocaine on one of the trio’s person.
The ICE hold is still in effect and the threesome remains incarcerated.
May 28 — Later that same day, police jailed a Sherman on a DWI charge. This arrest, too, was made on U.S. 75. Another driver called it in, describing the vehicle and reckless driver. When police found it, they saw it driving on the left shoulder, near the concrete barriers, and made the traffic stop. The driver failed a SFST (Standard Field Sobriety Test) and was taken to Grayson County Jail. The next morning, a magistrate set bail at $1,500, which the suspect posted later in the day for his release.
May 28 — A third traffic stop on U.S. 75 had police arresting a Bartlesville, Oklahoma, man on two charges. It was defective lights on the vehicle that got police’ attention, Hayslip said, and they initiated the traffic stop. Different, this time, was that it was the passenger to was found to have an outstanding arrest warrant issued in Kansas. Police verified that the issuing agency wanted to extradite the suspect and they assured Van Alstyne P.D. they would come get him.
During the resulting search, police found him in possession of marijuana. The suspect was incarcerated on a charge of fugitive from justice, with no bail provided, and possession of marijuana between 4 oz-5 pounds.
Jail records show the suspect was picked up on June 4.
May 29 — Suspicious headlights caused police to stop another vehicle about 2:30 a.m. May 29.
Hayslip said that police saw a red light on the front of the vehicle and pulled it over. Upon walking up to the stopped vehicle, they smelled alcohol and put the driver through a SFST.
After making the arrest, they conducted a search of the vehicle and found two firearms inside it.
The suspect, a Caddo Mills man, went to jail on one DWI charge and two charges of Unlawfully Carrying a Weapon. Bail was set at a total of $6,500, which the suspect posted later the same day for his release.
May 29 — A Mobile, Alabama, man went to jail on a charge of fugitive from justice, i.e.: a warrant issued for his arrest in Mobile. The call that led them to this was from another driver who reported something leaking out of the trailer the suspect pulled with his truck. The suspect gave consent for search and police found some drug paraphernalia. They issued a citation for the paraphernalia and jailed him on the warrant. As of June 10, he remains incarcerated.
May 31 — About 9 p.m., police were dispatched to domestic disturbance in progress. The victim identified her alleged assailant, a man who they had jailed about 18 months earlier on charges of resisting arrest, search or detention and terroristic threat of family. This time, he went to jail on a charge of assault on family/household member with a previous conviction.
Bail was set at $10,000, which he paid with a surety bond/with conditions on June 2 for his release. She victim declined medical attention.
June 2 — 3 a.m., police stopped a vehicle with a defective light on U.S. 75 at about Farmington Road. Both occupants, Sherman men, went to Grayson County Jail following this traffic stop.
One of the men had an outstanding warrant for his re-arrest on unlawful restraint after his previous bail bondsman took himself off that bond. Since then, too, another bail bondsman dropped this suspect on a charge of assault causing injury/family violence.
Both men were jailed on charges of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) between 4g-200g. On that charge, bail was set for both at $15,000 and the second man posted it and was released on June 2. The first man remains incarcerated.
June 7 — Police were called to a store near the highway because of a possible drunk man inside it. They found the suspect and determined him to be intoxicated. In the car, a second man was asleep and he was also found to be intoxicated. Finding both to be a possible danger to themselves or others, police jailed both men on charges of public intoxication and possession of marijuana they found inside the vehicle.
Both men sat out fines of $292 on the possession charge and received personal recognizance releases on the P.I. charge. These suspects were from California and Arizona, according to jail records.
Graffiti — Hayslip reported that vandals struck the new Central Social District Park with graffiti inside the public bathrooms, and again at a housing authority in the Georgetown section. They or other vandals placed graffiti both inside and outside the Quick Check Convenience Store and that, too, is still under investigation. All incidents found, except for the one at Quick Check, have been on government property.
The police have filed charges against one suspect, a juvenile, for previous graffiti incidents. “But, it is still happening in spite of having a suspect,” Hayslip said.
Completed inventory they bag of marijuana, about ½ ounce,
Training hours — Police officers and dispatchers continue their training, and during May they received a total of 56 training hours.
House Patrol — Hayslip emphasized, too, that police will watch houses while occupants are out of town on vacation or for any other reason. Anyone wishing this house patrol can call the police station at 903-482-5251 and provide the necessary information.
By Mary Jane Farmer, for Van Alstyne News, Scene In Town, Photos courtesy of Van Alstyne Police
The crash happened at 5:45 p.m. on U.S. Highway 75 at Van Alstyne Parkway (FM 121). The offending vehicle had rear-ended the vehicle in front of it and pushed that car off the highway and down the embankment. The occupants, two Dallas-area women and their two children, got out safely before flames erupted and fully engulfed the vehicle.
Grayson County Jail records showed bail was set at a total of $105,500, which the suspect paid the following day with surety bonds for her release.
By Mary Jane Farmer for The Van Alstyne News, Scene In Town
By Mary Jane Farmer, for the Van Alstyne News, Scene In Town