Drug Case at Bollinger

At 11:45 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, an officer on vehicle patrol at Bollinger Fields observed a black Toyota Corolla parked in the Bollinger Field parking lot with its daytime headlights on.

As the officer entered the parking lot, they noticed the vehicle was running with a lone occupant seated in the driver’s seat. Due to this parking lot being a frequent spot for drug use in the nighttime, the officer approached the vehicle.

As the officer approached, the subject, a UW-Eau Claire student from Oak Ridge Hall, rolled down his window to speak to the officer. The officer observed a strong odor of burnt marijuana from inside the vehicle as soon as they approached the vehicle.

When asked if they had been smoking marijuana, the subject would not answer right away. The officer asked the subject to exit the vehicle and they complied.

The officer put handcuffs on the subject but told them it was just for his safety, he was not under arrest.

The officer then conducted a probable cause search, due to the strong odor coming from the vehicle and the observations they had made.

Inside the center console compartment of the vehicle, the officer found an orange glass pipe with burnt material in the bowl area, a plastic bag with a green wax substance inside and a metal grinder with green flakes inside. All of the items smelled strongly of marijuana.

After the officer took possession of the items, they removed the handcuffs from the subject. The subject then admitted that the pipe, grinder and marijuana were his.

The subject said he had parked in the parking lot after finishing work and smoked marijuana while parked. He said he did not smoke prior to driving.

The officer found this was the subject’s first drug offense, so they offered the subject the Eau Claire County Diversion Program in lieu of receiving two citations, which the subject accepted by signing the diversion agreement form.

After a brief conversation about the diversion program, the subject left his vehicle parked in the lot and began walking back to campus.

Subject reminded of ban from campus, asked to leave property

At 5:20 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, an officer observed a male subject walking up the Garfield Avenue hill who the officer recognized from previous police contacts as being banned from UW-Eau Claire property, land and buildings.

The officer stopped their squad car and tried to get the subject’s attention. The subject tucked his head down and continued to walk up the hill.

The officer then spoke louder and got the subject’s attention by calling him out by name and the subject stopped.

After a records check, the officer found that the subject had no warrants and was not on probation, but was banned from UWEC property, land and buildings.

When asked if he remembered that he was banned, the subject said, “I’m not a lawyer and that is a gray area.”

When the officer asked the subject what he meant by that, the subject said he has been stopped by campus police several times before and they always tell him he is banned.

The subject said he had just gotten done swimming in the Chippewa River and was heading back to the new Sojourner House located on W. Clairemont Ave.

The officer observed that the subject did not appear to understand the ban from campus. The officer verbally warned the subject for violating UWS Ordinance 18.11 and the subject stated he understood and would take an alternate route next time.

The subject said he would walk up the hill and then leave campus, which the officer observed him do.

Janssen can be reached at [email protected].