By Alexa Cheaney
Hit and Run at Sneden parking deck
On Feb. 6, at 2:53 p.m. a Grand Rapids Community College Police Department Officer was dispatched to the lower level of the Sneden parking deck to respond to a hit-and-run. Upon arrival, the officer on the scene met with a faculty member standing next to his vehicle. The officer took note of the damage on the rear bumper and a tail light cover on the ground near his vehicle, despite the fact that the victim had both of his taillights intact. It is believed that the taillight on the ground belongs to the vehicle that hit the faculty member’s car. The officer picked up the taillight and put it in his patrol car.
A witness told the responding officer that he saw someone back into the faculty member’s car and heard the collision. He also recalled a few of the car’s license plate letters “ E R N”, as well as the light blue color of the sedan. The perpetrator was last seen driving out of the west end of the structure.
The responding officer proceeded to review security camera footage taken from the Fountain Street entrance/exit and looked for a vehicle matching that of the witness’s description. Unable to find it, he switched to the East Fulton Street vantage point. The footage from this end repeatedly froze and would not load.
The responding officer planned to return to the Sneden parking lot on Thursday, Feb. 8, to walk the lot and look for the perpetrator’s vehicle.
Alleged double hit and run in Ramp B
At 11:01 a.m. on Feb. 7, a woman went to the GRCC PD to report a hit-and-run that took place on level 7 of Parking Ramp B. Accompanied by a responding officer, the victim walked back to where she had parked her vehicle at about 10:10 a.m. earlier that morning. While waiting in her car for her class to begin, she felt something hit her car at approximately 10:20 a.m. She identified the car that had struck her car as a blue sedan and said the car appeared to drive forward and hit another parked vehicle before driving away. The victim was unable to describe the driver.
While there was damage done to the rear bumper of her vehicle, the victim told the responding officer she was okay, and proceeded to point out the other car she believed had been struck. The officer did not see any damage to the other vehicle and informed the victim to contact GRCC PD if she saw the suspected vehicle again.
Hit and Run at M-TEC
On Feb. 9, at 1:40 p.m., a GRCC PD officer responded to a hit-and-run complaint at the Michigan Technical Education Center. The victim had parked his car earlier that day, at approximately 8:30 a.m., and returned several hours later at 1:30 p.m. to find scratches along his front bumper and some plastic missing. The missing plastic piece was not found nearby and the victim does not know how the damage occurred.
Trespasser in RJF
On Feb. 12 at 9:22 a.m. an officer was dispatched to Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall on account of a possibly homeless man sleeping on a desk in the hallway.
Upon arrival, the officer nudged the man awake and asked if he was a current GRCC student. The man showed the officer an old GRCC ID and the officer proceeded to ask him if he was currently enrolled in any classes, to which the man replied that he was waiting to sign up at the financial aid office. The officer then asked if the man had any previous encounters with GRCC police, and he said there were a couple.
The officer contacted dispatch to review previous contacts with the man. It was found that he had been warned previously, and the responding officer was advised to cite him with trespassing.
The pair went back to the department to confirm previous contacts, and it was discovered that the man had a bench warrant out of the Grand Rapids Police Department for failing to appear at a settlement conference on a charge of providing false information. GRCC PD lodged the man on the warrant.
Hit and Run in Ramp B
On Feb. 12, at 11:12 a.m. an officer was asked to meet with a complainant in the police department lobby on an alleged hit and run. The complainant told the officer that while sitting in his car in level 6 of Ramp B he heard, but did not see, a vehicle hit another parked car while attempting to back out. He was able to provide a description of the vehicle, but not of the driver or the license plate.
The complainant pointed out a car on level 6 of the parking ramp that appeared to have small scratches along the back panel of the driver’s side. The officer was able to identify and contact the driver of the damaged vehicle by running his plate. The driver is a student, and the officer pulled him out of class and explained the situation while they walked out to his car.
The driver was not concerned about the damages and did not wish to file a report himself.
