Man Asks To Be Taken to Shelter or Jail; West Des Moines Police Choose Jail

A Missouri man who said he was cold and tired from walking from Joplin, MO, to Iowa was charged with public intoxication early Wednesday morning by West Des Moines police.

Police took Shane Matthew Spor, 31, of Neosho, MO, to the Polk County Jail after he allegedly refused to leave the lobby of the Drury Inn and Suites, 5505 Mills Civic Pkwy.

Hotel employees called police at 5 a.m. to report an unwanted guest, Officer Ryan Anderson wrote in a report on file with the West Des Moines Police Department.

Anderson said that Spor smelled moderately of alcohol and had bloodshot, watery eyes. Spor consented to a preliminary breath test, which showed a reading of .102, according to the police report.

“I asked him what he was doing and he said he was cold and tired from walking from Joplin, MO,” which is about 300 miles away in southwest Missouri, Anderson wrote in his report.

Spor was asked to leave the hotel, but said he would only do so if authorities took him to a homeless shelter or jail.

So, Anderson arrested Spor for public intoxication and took him to the Polk County Jail.