Man turns himself in after bar fight by tracking his cell phone to find officer
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IDAHO FALLS – A 20-year-old Firth man was arrested Sunday after engaging in a bar fight and then turning himself in – by tracking his phone that was in possession of an officer.
Wade Oscar Bolinder was charged with one count of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated battery with the use of a deadly weapon.
On Saturday, Idaho Falls Police responded to a bar on A Street after a report of a man hitting a woman outside of the building.
When police arrived, they identified the man as Bolinder, spoke with him, and learned that he was “highly intoxicated and got into several different fights with several different individuals,” mostly women, that night.
According to police reports, Bolinder was trying to hit two bar patrons, both women, “due to his extreme level of intoxication.”
Bolinder reportedly got in a woman’s face and “laid hands on” her. The woman had red scratches on her left cheek, allegedly from him scratching her.
“Bolinder tried to punch (the woman) several times” as she was trying to defend herself, court documents say. Another woman at the bar was trying to protect her when Bolinder allegedly hit her too.
The second woman reportedly hit Bolinder back, and Bolinder then “picked up a glass shard from the ground and tried to slash (the first victim) with it.”
The second woman got between the two and “used the backside of her right forearm to block Bolinder’s strike.”
Officers say this caused a “4.5-inch long gash across the backside of (her) forearm that was bleeding.”
Due to injuries from multiple people in the bar trying to stop Bolinder from attacking the women, he was taken to the hospital via ambulance, leaving his phone behind at the bar.
After learning what had reportedly happened, the officer took possession of Bolinder’s belongings and went to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center to check on him.
The officer learned he was sedated and admitted to the ICU, though the extent of his injuries at that time was unclear.
The next day, at 7:27 p.m., the officer was at an unrelated call at the intersection of West Sunnyside Road and South Rollendet Avenue when Bolinder and his father showed up.
According to the police report, Bolinder’s father said he had tracked his son’s cell phone to the officer’s location because the cell phone was in her patrol car from the previous night.
The officer writes that this time, Bolinder was “very respectful, and his behavior was much better than the last time I spoke with him.”
Bolinder told the officer he was “extremely intoxicated that night and does not remember anything that occurred.”
He also said he showed up to the bar to meet with a friend and started drinking “to the point he blacked out, and he does not recall what happened after that.”
According to court documents, Bolinder did not remember who the victims were.
The officer arrested Bolinder and booked him into the Bonneville County Jail. His bond was set to $40,000, which he later paid and was released on Tuesday.
Bolinder is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on July 26. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Though Bolinder has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.