Photos: Andrew Goff.

Maybe you saw three Eureka Police cars in the parking lot of the Li’l Red Lion between about 10:15 and 11:15 this morning. Maybe you wondered what that was about. 

The Eureka Police Department was called to the scene by a man who said that he had found a car there that was stolen from his son. The man — who owned the car — said that there were three people were in it. Dispatchers sent police to the location, telling officers that the man was getting into a verbal altercation with the car’s occupants.

When the Outpost’s Andrew Goff arrived a few minutes later, police had detained the driver of the car and were attempting to sort out what was what. The other occupants of the vehicle were nowhere to be found. The detained person said that he had borrowed the car from the son of its owner. The father maintained that his son had reported the vehicle stolen last week. He got on his phone and attempted to get his son to come down to the scene.

While waiting for the son to arrive police searched the vehicle, finding a large machete, several syringes and a small amount of weed, among other items of interest.

But the son didn’t arrive, and officers ended up releasing the person they had momentarily detained. None of the items found in the search were actually arrest-worthy, under the laws of the state of California. The car was released to the none-too-happy father.

Sgt. Travis Braud told the Outpost that investigation of the case had determined this to be a civil issue, and not a criminal one.