Compiled by Bethany Kohoutek bethany@dmcityview.com

Dispatcher: 911...

Caller: I'm at the Kum & Go in Grimes. I just had a gentleman run in here, grab a 24-pack of Bud. ... He's on 141 right now, heading toward Perry. I got my buddy chasing him. ... My buddy's in the Oldsmobile behind him, in the Bravada.

D: Where's your friend at now?

C: I got both phones... I can give him a call and ask him. [Victim uses cell phone to call his friend: Where you at? You behind them? ... Almost to Polk City now? ... OK, I'm on 911 right now, so just stay on their ass. Hold on, hold on. They're getting off at the Polk City exit? They're heading toward Saylorville?]

D: Can you keep him on the phone?

C: Yeah, I can keep him on the phone, if you want me to. ... They're going straight... they just turned left on Beaver, and they turned northwest on 100th. They're pulling into a house.

D: ...you need to tell me what the address is on the mailbox.

C: He's confronting the girl right now.

D: No, tell him not to confront her.

C: [To friend: 911's saying not to confront them. ... You don't know if they have guns. Go back and sit in your car.]

C: They walked kind of into the forest area, off to the west, away from the car.

D: Behind the house?

C: They sound kind of intoxicated...

D: ... the officer is getting close to
him now.

C: [To friend: Can you see the cops?] Yep, they're there now.

D: OK, I'll let you go.

Officer's Report: [Two] employees of Kum & Go in Grimes, state they witnessed a male in his mid to late teens enter the store and run out with a case of Budweiser beer. [One man] followed the vehicle the suspect fled in. ... [He] witnessed two males and two females exit the vehicle and flee into the woods on foot. The cold case of Budweiser was left in the car, along with a Johnston High School I.D. card, a Domino's pay stub and fishing license [all belonging to the same juvenile]. ... The vehicle was impounded and a hold placed on it for criminal investigation. The beer was photographed and returned to Kum & Go.

Docket diving

Olives have never enjoyed so much attention from Iowa's judicial system.

A couple of months ago, Docket wrote about the case of Douglas C. Kolarik, an Iowa City man who sued an olive-wholesale company after he broke his tooth on an olive pit. Kolarik's case has now climbed all the way to Iowa's highest bench, the Supreme Court.

Kolarik alleged that he opened a jar of Italica Spanish Olives that bore the label "minced pimento-stuffed green olives." He proceeded to add several olives to a salad, took a bite and chomped down on a pit, fracturing his tooth. In his lawsuit against Cory International Corporation, Italica Imports and Tee Pee Olives, Inc., Kolarik said he had a reasonable expectation that the olives would be pit-less.

The olive companies called in their vice president for quality control to testify. The Veep explained that "when the olives go into those [de-pitting] machines, the machines do very well, but, you know, the olives have different shapes. And the reason they don't get pitted right all the time is because of the different shapes of the olives."

Prior courts had ruled in favor of the olive companies, which import their product from Spain. According to court documents, the olives are grown by Spanish farmers, then shipped in 150-kilogram drums from Spain to a processing plant in Norfolk, VA. At that point, the olives are washed, packaged into glass jars and sent to locations throughout the U.S. for retail sale.

In considering the case, Supreme Court judges looked at the precedent set in the 1941 case Brown vs. Nebiker, in which an Iowa man swallowed a bone while eating a pork chop at a restaurant. The bone became lodged in the man's throat, and he died as a result of complications during surgical removal of the bone. In that case, the court ruled in favor of the restaurant, holding that bones "do not constitute a foreign object," because they are contained naturally in pork.

The court said the same general principles apply to olives and their pits. Although judges sided with the olive companies for the most part, they did opine that since the pit-removing machines are not 100 percent effective, the olive jars should carry a "warning on the label" cautioning olive consumers "that pits or pit fragments might be encountered."

483 the number of people employed by the Des Moines Police Department.

No funny business

A Des Moines police officer was on routine patrol when he suspected something fishy going on at Bertha Butts' Balloonery & Baubles on Hubbell Avenue. He noticed an open door, and when he entered the business at about 3 a.m., he found Chad Cooney inside. Cooney said he had "found the door open and was trying to call police." The officer cuffed Cooney, and found that his story didn't gel too well with the pry bar and bolt cutters discovered in Cooney's car. Police also found money in Cooney's pockets - the same amount that was missing from the cash register. Cooney was transported to jail.

Lot lies

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller's office joined other states in cracking down on the seedy business practices of Gunning & Associates Marketing, Inc., an Ohio firm that runs promotions for some Iowa auto dealers. Miller found that Gunning utilized "false-premise" ads - implying to customers that the sale vehicles were culled from bankruptcies, fleet liquidations and bank repos, when, in fact, they were not. "Consumers are misled, and sometimes they end up paying prices that are even higher than normal," Miller said, in a statement. Gunning will pay $300,000 to the states involved in the suit.

On the clock

Des Moines Police - Sept. 12

1:00 p.m.

Burglary in the 1100 block of 21st Sreet. A female victim reported that her boyfriend put a laptop and a brown duffel bag containing clothes in a storage closet located in the hallway of the residence. The victim stated she found the closet door open and items missing. There were no signs of forced entry.

5:05 p.m.

Domestic assault in the 4100 block of Hubbell Avenue. The victim states that her son crawled through a window at her residence and began yelling at her because she refused to give him $20 to buy pot. The suspect threw papers and food at her. The suspect also threw a plate at a wall, destroying a picture and a memorial decoration. The suspect picked up a fork and told the victim he would "stick it in her heart," according to police reports. The suspect was arrested and transported to Polk County Jail.

5:42 p.m.

Domestic assault, causing injury, in the 2500 block of S.W. County Line Road. A victim called to report that her boyfriend got angry at her because he suspected that she was cheating. He slapped her in the mouth, pulled her hair, scratched her chin and bruised her left wrist. The suspect was transported to Polk County Jail.

6:30 p.m.

Domestic assault, causing injury, at the corner of East 23rd and Arthur. The victim and her husband met to exchange car keys. The husband became angry and pushed the victim, grabbed her around the neck and grabbed her fingers, possibly causing a broken finger. A witness saw the incident. The victim went to the hospital for X-rays of her finger. A warrant was issued for the arrest of the suspect.

8:00 p.m.

Burglary in the 1700 block of 23rd Street. Victims reported that an unknown person entered their residence by pushing in the window air conditioner while they were at work. Suspect took several DVDs, jewelry and a bank with cash in it. Victims say they could identify the jewelry. The victims do not speak much English, according to police reports, so they were given contact information for the Hispanic Outreach Neighborhood Resource Advocate Unit.

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