What Normally Private Act Caused West Des Moines Police to Make Thanksgiving Morning Arrest?

Two Des Moines men were arrested and charged with public intoxication early Thanksgiving morning after one of them allegedly urinated in a parking lot and the other became belligerent, according to a report on file at the West Des Moines

Off-duty police officers frequently patrol the district, a “shop-work-live” planned development, to keep it safe and fun under a partnership between management at West Glen Town Center and the West Des Moines Police Department.

Officer Stephen Becker reported that he was sitting in his patrol car at 597 Market St. as bars closed about 2 a.m. and observed a bar patron urinating in the parking lot “in public view.”

Becker handcuffed the man, later identified as Nicholas Soctt Coffman, 23, of 3123 Fourth St., Des Moines. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of .191 and was charged with public intoxication.

As Becker was placing Coffman in the back of the police cruiser, a second man – Bryce Dugan Manning, 21, of 5260 N.E. Delaware, Des Moines – approached the vehicle and allegedly became belligerent.  

According to Becker’s report, Manning jumped into a pickup truck belonging to a third man, who was not identified in the report. The unidentified man had planned to drive the two men home. When he took a breathalyzer test, the results were negative and Becker said he could leave.

Coffman and Manning were arrested, charged and released to a sober third party. Manning refused a sobriety test.