Custody situation gets heated in Cd'A

A child custody dispute unraveled Wednesday afternoon in downtown Coeur d’Alene and ended with the distraught mother being taken to Kootenai Health for an evaluation.

Coeur d’Alene Police Detective Jared Reneau said the incident began when the woman, whose name was not released by police, called in a report that her ex-boyfriend was violating a protection order. The initial call indicated this was happening in or near Crickets Restaurant on Sherman Avenue.

“She said he had a gun, but that was not accurate,” Reneau said.

Police learned the ex-boyfriend, who was also not identified, had not yet been served the protection order the woman had filed. Officers caught up with the ex-boyfriend a short time later, during a road stop on Northwest Boulevard, north of Garden Avenue.

“Officers stood by while he was served the protection order paperwork,” Reneau said.

The children were with their father, the ex-boyfriend, and police made arrangements for them to go with the woman’s mother.

Reneau said the woman who called the report in had made some statements indicating she might hurt herself, and officers suspected drugs may be involved, so the woman was taken into protective custody and brought to the hospital.