Who let the dogs out, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. It was a man suspected of pulling a gun on another guy during a road rage incident outside Marden’s.

But the suspect had no gun and it looked like he didn’t have much rage, either.

What he did have was a dog.

It was a big, black dog with a happy temperament and she sat in the suspect’s truck. While officers searched the vehicle for a gun, they needed to get the dog out of the way.

The job fell to the cop in charge of the operation. Sgt. Michael Whalen grabbed hold of the animal’s leash and walked her around the parking lot. The dog was completely unperturbed by the investigation or by the fact that her owner was stuffed in the back of a police cruiser.

The pooch grinned a dog grin at the swarm of officers. She jumped up on a hapless reporter who was watching the action. The dog looked like she was having the time of her life. The sergeant looked indifferent.

The suspect was questioned and ultimately released. No gun was found. All’s well that ends well.

But sadly, a chance for romance was missed: In one of the cop cars lurked a fine German shepherd named Duke. Duke is a police dog and doesn’t get to date much. But he and the suspect’s dog didn’t even look at each other. Not a single bark was exchanged.

Perhaps it would have been a conflict of interest. Or perhaps the big dog from the truck was also a boy. The hapless reporter on scene admitted that he was no good judge of these things.

– Mark LaFlamme

In memory

Everyone has a different way of mourning lost loved ones.

The family of Robert Levesque, who died last December after being hit by a snowmobile, has chosen a public approach.

It is the type of message seen in an obituary or on an old tombstone. Only, in this case, it is on the back of a GMC pickup truck.

It says, “In memory of Robert Joseph Levesque, 59 years old, killed on 12-30-02 by a hit-and-run snowmobiler while walking along the shore of Sabattus Lake.”

The truck is a company vehicle for Levesque Electric, and it is often spotted around town.

Levesque was 59 when his body was found on Sabattus Pond. Steven Davies, a 37-year-old Sabattus man, was charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault and reckless conduct in connection with the fatal accident.

Police say he was driving his snowmobile at about 70 mph when he struck Levesque, then drove away. At the time, Levesque was walking on the ice with a flashlight.

Lawyers for Davies are scheduled to be in court on Feb. 2 to ask that certain evidence not be allowed at the trial.

– Lisa Chmelecki

X-files?

Wednesday, Dec. 17. A morning foot chase is under way outside St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center. The man being sought decided all at once that he no longer wanted to be poked and probed at the hospital.

Purely understandable, but planning was not a big part of his agenda. Over the police scanner, the fellow is described as wearing a hospital johnny and pulling an IV pole on wheels behind him in the slush and snow.

The johnny provided little protection from the icy rain. The IV carrier telltale tracks in the slush. The man was picked up quickly and returned to his caretakers.

Not long after, police were pursuing a man down Lisbon Street. This person was described as having only one ear, a fine description if the pursuing officer happens to be 3 inches behind the suspect. Huffing at a run blocks away or searching from a police cruiser, that missing appendage might be difficult to spot.

The IV fugitive was caught but there was no word on the one-eared man. Police went on to other matters. It was not yet noon.

– Mark LaFlamme