Deputy fleeing driver draws extra scrutiny

BRIDGEPORT – Some days it just doesn’t pay to even get out of bed. And on those days when you do, it doesn’t pay to flee the scene of a routine traffic incident.; and especially NOT in the snow.
A suspect, now in custody of law enforcement authorities, learned that the hard way last February in Bridgeport.
According to a report from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy on routine patrol observed a vehicle run into a snowbank. Now, there’s nothing particularly unusual about a vehicle having a minor encounter with snow. it’s winter, after all.
This driver spotted the patrol car – and then fled…through the snow. A reaction like that would tend to arouse the curiosity of even the most disinterested lawman. It certainly did with this deputy who had to resort to the normally difficult chore of tracking the suspect. But, remember the snow?
“The deputy followed the tracks in the snow and located him (the suspect) hiding in some brush,” the DCSO report said.
Brush in winter months tends to offer much less cover than it does during the rest of the year.
The 30-year-old driver “was found to have five warrants out for his arrest,” the DSCO report continued. “He was also charged with driving while suspended.”
Douglas County Sheriff, Harvey Gjesdal, made a telling comment when he related the incident at the last Bridgeport City Council meeting, Wednesday, March 15.
“If the driver had not fled the scene, the deputy would have probably thought nothing more of the incident.”
The story would have a more perfect ending if the car that ran into the snowbank had been one 1999 green Dodge Neon that the owner left parked and unlocked with the keys in the ignition. According to another DSCO February incident report, this one concerning vehicle theft, the owner awoke at 4 a.m. to the sound of the car starting.