Compiled by Andrew Brink andrew@dmcityview.com

On the clock

Des Moines Police — March 12

3:19 p.m.
Assault with a weapon in the 1300 block of East 14th Street. The victim stated he was driving north on East 14th Street in the inside lane when a red [make of vehicle redacted] pulled up next to him and shot him with a gun. After being shot, the driver failed to notice that the vehicle in front of him had stopped, causing the victim to rear end the vehicle.

5:49 p.m.
Disorderly conduct at East High School, 815 E. 13th St. Police responded to the report of a 100-person fight at the school. Upon arriving on the scene, a teacher flagged down the officers and stated that the fight was occurring inside. After entering the school, officers observed two suspects throwing punches and pushing each other. Officers broke up the fight and placed them in handcuffs. Police were allegedly told the name of a female suspect who started the fight (which she did by flashing gang symbols). She was also placed in handcuffs and a search of her backpack revealed a book filled with “gang writing.” The student admitted that she was in a gang. The teacher stated that others were involved in the fight, but they ran away prior to the officers’ arrival. All three suspects were charged with disorderly conduct.

5:57 p.m.
Attempted burglary in the 1300 block of Amos Avenue. The victim believes someone tried to enter her residence through a bedroom window, which had been broken before the attempted burglary and covered with cardboard. The victim noticed that the cardboard had been pushed out and two screws securing the window had been moved. Nothing was taken, and the victim was unsure if anyone actually entered the residence. The victim has a runaway friend who may have tried to break in to get some food.

SUCKS TO BE YOU

Name: Michele Ann Breeding
Location: Polk County Jail
Sucks to be Breeding because: she was arrested for assaulting a Des Moines Police Officer while intoxicated. Police were dispatched to a downtown office building to deal with Breeding, 40, who had been handcuffed by the building’s security team after she refused to leave the premises. When the officers began the process of moving her into a new pair of handcuffs, she began yelling and kicked an officer twice — once in the right knee, once in the left. According to the police report, Breeding had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol. Breeding refused to give officers her real name and was booked under the name “Jane Doe.”

67 : the number of violent sexual predators receiving treatment at the Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders, located in Cherokee.

DOCKET DIVING

The following is an excerpt from a recent opinion posted by the Iowa Court of Appeals:

Lyle Askvig struck a Union Pacific freight car and died as a result. The accident occurred in Boone at a railroad crossing north of the intersection of Highway 17 [and] 210th Street. At the intersection was a stop sign installed by the Iowa Department of Transportation. [The] department had also installed “rumble strips” on the approach to the intersection [which] were removed prior to the accident and… replaced with a flashing red light situated on top of the stop sign. The light was not working on the night of the accident.

Following the accident, Courtney Askvig, administrator of Askvig’s estate, filed a wrongful death action against the State of Iowa. She alleged that the State was negligent “[i]n failing to properly maintain the illumination of the stop sign governing the intersection in question…”

On appeal, [Askvig] raises a number of issues. We find it necessary to address only one: proximate cause. The district court applied the law as follows:

With respect to the red flashing light, the Estate presents no evidence that a properly functioning light… would have alerted the decedent to the presence of the train. … Furthermore, signs along Highway 17, the stop sign, the crossbucks, and the train itself, were all warnings that Askvig needed to stop… As a result, this Court finds incredulous that another device intended to give a visual signal to the Plaintiff can be described as a cause of this accident when eight other signs or markings were disregarded…

While [Askvig] might be able to prove that the absence of a flashing light and rumble strips satisfied the “causation in fact” standard, she cannot satisfy the legal causation standard. This standard requires a showing that the defendant’s negligence “was a substantial factor in bringing about the harm.” Signs beginning 900 feet before the intersection… warned of the stop preceding the railroad crossing. In addition, there were signs specifically warning of the railroad crossing. Given all these signs, Lyle Askvig’s tragic collision with the train was simply not a foreseeable consequence of the State’s failure to maintain a properly functioning light… We affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the State.

911 call

D: Sheriff’s office, this is [name redacted].
C: Hi, this is operator number [give identification number] with TCI Alarm. I need a dispatch on an audible burg alarm at Capital City Baptist Church.
D: [Dispatcher begins typing] Just one second. If I can type this morning, we’ll be in good shape.
C: [Caller laughs]
D: Where is the drop at?
C: The gym west door.
D: Entry or motion?
C: Gosh, it doesn’t say, so I figure it must be entry.
D: OK. And your phone number?
C: [Gives number]
D: And is there a key holder en route?
C: No, but I still have a few more calls to make.
D: OK, excellent. I’m number one and we’ll get ‘em started.

Officer’s report: I was dispatched to Capital City Baptist Church on an alarm on the west gym door. When I arrived, I noticed footprints in the snow leading to and coming from the west gym door. I also noticed that the door was standing wide open. As we approached the door, I noticed that the dead bolt cover was missing from the outside and inside of the door. The dead bolt itself was in the open position. I did not see any other signs of forced entry. Sgt. [name redacted] and I went in and searched the building. As we went in, we noticed muddy footprints going in about three feet, a smudge and then footprints leading back to the door. We searched the rest of the building and everything appeared to be normal.

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