CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Cedar Rapids is a step closer to looking for candidates for chief of police five months after its top law enforcement official stepped aside. Former Chief Wayne Jerman announced his retirement in April after state law forced him from his post because he “aged out” of his police certification. Chief Jerman had spent the past 11 years as chief. The state code sets the limit at 65 for peace officers in Iowa. On Monday night, the city’s Safety and Youth Services Committee got a chance to find out what citizens want in a new police chief. A community survey of 650 people listed some of those top priorities. The city plans to post the job by next Monday, but admitted it wasn’t clear how long the process could take.
ATKINS, Iowa (KCRG) – Five volunteer firefighters have been treated and released from local hospitals after suffering minor injuries during a single-vehicle accident in Atkins. Officials say the accident happened shortly before 11:00 a.m. on a rural road in Benton County. Firefighters were responding to a call when the truck encountered an uneven surface on the side of the road and rolled into a ditch, landing on its top. The truck is heavily damaged, but the City of Atkins has an older truck they can use while that one is being repaired. “We’d like to thank the fire departments from Fairfax and Shellsburg that assisted us today,” Mayor Bruce Visser said. “We’re grateful that our firefighters suffered only minor injuries and are back home safely.”
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Officials have arrested a 29-year-old man who is accused of making sexually explicit comments to minors. Officials say the incident occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 13. A 13 and 14-year-old were walking the Court Hill Trail through Court Hill Park when a man followed them to the entrance of Memory Gardens Cemetery. He then approached them and made sexually explicit comments towards them. A victim told police that they had also encountered the man earlier in the week. Police reviewed video footage which showed the man in question following one of the victims before making the comments and running off into the trees. On September 18th, officials located the man walking on Court Hill Park Trail wearing the identical outfit he wore during the incident. He was identified as Brayton Reynolds of Iowa City. One of the victims reportedly confirmed Reynolds as the man who made the comments. Reynolds was charged with three counts of Enticing a Minor Under 16 – Sexual Purpose, three counts of First-Degree Harassment, and one count of Possession of a Controlled Substance.
MARION, Iowa (KCRG) – More than a thousand people have blown through the red lights at an intersection in Marion – the same intersection where a semi-truck ran a red light and killed a woman from Wellman. Now the cameras that caught those drivers will start issuing tickets. The traffic cameras are located at the intersections of Highway 100 and East Post Rd and Highway 13 and 151. Those cameras aren’t just checking to see if drivers are speeding. They’re also monitoring who is and isn’t stopping at the red lights. During their trial period, both sets of cameras recorded almost 15 hundred red light violations and more than 150 speeding violations combined. The cameras will be sending tickets starting today for drivers going 11 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. The goal of having the cameras is to slow drivers down so that if an accident were to occur, it would be likely to be less severe, and to prevent people from running red lights- which killed a woman at the East Post, Highway 100 intersection in January. The city will also be using a mobile traffic enforcement camera that will be set up in areas that see speeding concerns.
