The Luther Police Department responded early Thursday to a report of a submerged car in water off of Sagebrush Circle southeast of town. Police Chief David Randall said when authorities arrived at 7:40 am, someone was emerging from the water, but it was a neighbor checking it out after spotting the red car in the farm pond.
Turns out the driver was long gone, and the vehicle with Texas tags was reported stolen out of Newcastle, Okla., according to Chief Randall.
Before landing in the water, it appeared the car sailed through trees and busted through a fence. Chief Randall reported that neighbors didn’t hear anything and didn’t know what time the accident happened. No word on the suspect.
The stolen car report will be part of September’s statistics at LPD. As for August, the LPD stats, released this week, include 75 tickets written, six calls of suspicious activity, one gunshot call and no burglaries or robberies. The report also includes one assault, reflecting the stabbing at Luther High School on the first day of school on August 16.
Earlier this week at the Luther Town Board regular monthly meeting, trustees approved a rank increase for Officer Tony Walker to Sergeant, just a month after Walker’s spouse spoke out at the August monthly meeting about officer safety.
Both the Town Board and the School Board discussed their mutual agreement to hire a full-time School Resource Office to serve all of the schools during the school year. Both boards have voted in favor of the agreement and are working out final administrative details that include the school paying for the salary and the training for the safety officer.
The police department is advertising to hire a new full-time officer.
