Accident Damage to GRCC Property
On Nov. 28 at approximately 4:55 p.m., a Grand Rapids Community College police officer was dispatched to the Ellis Parking Office at Bostwick parking ramp to a complaint about damage to a gate arm.
When the officer arrived to Ellis parking office he made contact with the Ellis Supervisor. The officer reviewed the video footage of the incident. At 4:32 p.m. an orange Chevrolet drove out of the exit gate of ramp one level five behind a white vehicle. The driver then stopped and backed up. When the vehicle backed up the gate arm caught the top of the vehicle.
The driver walked up to the Raider Card Reader and swiped her card to pay for parking. The gate arm went up and the vehicle then drove out of the ramp. After the plate for the vehicle was ran it was determined that the suspect was a possibly GRCC student.
At 5:45 p.m. the student called the GRCC police department after the officer was dismissed and left a message requesting to get in contact with the officer. She immediately admitted that she had damaged the gate. She stated that her mind was all over the place because she had just came from the the counseling office and was not thinking straight. When she exited the ramp she heard the gate arm strike her vehicle. She then realized that she had forgotten to pay for parking so she backed up. She paid for the parking and left. She said that she did not know where to go to report the incident so she went back home. She apologized for damaging the gate.
The officer advised her that she told “him” exactly what the video showed and she had broken the gate arm by accident. The officer advised her that Chief Whitman would not charge her for the damage to the gate arm. She was told in the future that she needed to contact the GRCC Police Department when she was involved in an accident on campus. She thanked the officer for understanding and said again that she had no intention in causing the damage.
Suspicious People on GRCC Campus
On Dec. 4, at 5:01 p.m., a GRCC police officer was dispatched to the Applied Technology Center where a witness saw between six and eight white male subjects wearing masks climbing the wall to get to the roof on the East side of the building.
Three officers were in search for the men who were said to be on or near the ATC building. While one of the officers was on the North side of the building the officers could smell marijuana. After a brief chase off the roof the police were able to stop the men. None of the subjects were wearing masks, but most of them had hooded sweatshirts on. They were on the roof hanging out and smoking a vaporizer, police said.
None of the males were GRCC students and were all issued trespass warnings. All six subjects were identified verbally or by Michigan ID and then searched. Five of the suspects came back with clean records but one had two warrants for failure to appear in court. The first one was out of Branch County and they advised him of the warrant but they would not pick him up. The second one was out of White Cloud and they advised that Michigan State Police would pick him up if they lodged with a hold.
The officer allowed the suspect to call his brother in an attempt to get $1,000 for bond, but he was unable to come up with the money. He was then handcuffed behind his back and searched again.
The officers then transported the man to Kent County Correctional Facility and lodged him on the warrant.
