The Blotter
Friday, August 21st, 2009
FANCY WINE BROUHAHA: A man with a blondish mohawk and a 20-year-old woman walked into a grocery store on Piedmont Avenue. Store employees say the man went to the wine section and grabbed a $130 bottle of wine. He reportedly handed the wine to the woman and she went to the customer service desk and tried to fraudulently return the wine. Employees told the woman that she couldn’t return the wine — so she left the bottle at the customer service desk. At the same time, employees were quizzing the man about the wine. “Kroger employees ran after [the man] saying they had been robbed,” an officer wrote. The man and woman hopped into a Ford Ranger and drove away. As police arrived, nearby citizens said the Ford Ranger had smashed through a garage security gate at a Buckhead condominium on Peachtree Street.
So police went to the condo building. A woman there said the couple ditched the car and ran into the condo building. She said the man wore black nylon shorts and a black T-shirt and the woman wore a white T-shirt and brown pants.
Police surrounded the condo building and eventually the woman walked out. An officer found the man hiding in the lobby stairwell. “They had exchanged clothing and [the man] had cut all his hair off,” an officer wrote. During a police interview, the couple admitted they went to the grocery store to fraudulently return stuff for money. They also said they had exchanged clothes while they were inside an elevator at the condominium building. An officer wrote, The man also admitted, “he knocked on a resident’s door and asked for a pair of scissors and cut his hair.”
The man and woman went to jail on numerous charges.
(Illustration by Tray Butler)
CATNAP? On Pharr Road, a woman called police to report her cat missing. An officer arrived. The woman said she “has not seen her cat in several days and believes that one of her neighbors inside her apartment complex has kidnapped the cat,” the officer wrote. Also, the woman said the same neighbor confronted her and said she knew the woman has “herperies,” the officer wrote. The woman said she didn’t know how her neighbor could know that information about her. The woman “stated that she previous left her personal phone books outside her apartment on her patio, which is an open area next to a bus stop near [her] apartment,” the officer wrote. “[She] stated she found a small knife laying on her patio table when she returned to pickup her telephone book. When I inquired about the knife, [the woman] got the knife from her kitchen drawer and showed the knife to me.” The woman said she thinks her neighbor has it out for her. The officer couldn’t locate the suspected neighbor. The woman insisted on filing a police report.
CRANKY MOMMA: A police officer responded to a call about a dispute on Pineview Terrace. “This was the fifth time since [2:30 p.m.] I had responded to this address regarding this caller and the ninth time since 10 a.m. the suspect had called 911,” the officer noted.
WISHFUL THINKING: An officer saw a man on the Freedom Parkway ramp to I-75/85. The man reportedly was walking back and forth, asking for money from drivers. Apparently, as the officer circled around, the man moved to the Ellis Street ramp. “[He] had previously fled from me into the Auburn Avenue area, so I snuck up behind him and took him into custody without incident,” the officer wrote. “[The man] said I must be following him and that his uncle in the FBI was watching traffic cameras in the area, so once Mayor Shirley Franklin was fired for ‘taking that money’ all the police would be fired and they would close the jail.” The officer arrested the 49-year-old man and he “was transported to jail, which remains open.”
BIG DAY WITH BJ: A man said he and his wife were kidnapped at gunpoint one morning — and they were forced to get in a blue van and held in Piedmont Park until almost 11 p.m., when the man escaped. He said the kidnappers still had his wife — and he was able to escape because the alleged kidnappers, BJ and another guy, slapped him and got distracted when a police car drove by.
CARBONATED REVENGE: A woman said someone poured soda all over her car and left a note, while it was parked at Peachtree Center. The note read: “Dear Asshole, I listened to your piece of shit alarm going off all day yesterday and today and I’m sick and tired of it. Either get it fixed or park somewhere else.” The woman said her car alarm did have a problem.
DRUNK and CHATTY: Around midnight, a 28-year-old man was kicked out of a bar on Roswell Road for allegedly trying to fight with the bar owner and employees. Outside the bar, the man reportedly told a police officer, “You’re not a cop, you’re a fucking pussy,” and “You’re a fucking coward,” and “You’re a fat piece of shit.” The officer told him to leave. Another man on crutches apologized for his friend (the cursing man) and said they would go to the corner to wait for a taxi. A few minutes later, a taxi pulled up but apparently the cursing man didn’t get in. “I heard [him] yell ‘motherfucker’ and charge at me with both hands clenched in a fist,” the reporting officer wrote. The man allegedly collided with the officer and tried to hit him. After a struggle, the officer arrested the man. Meanwhile, his friend — the man on crutches — hobbled up to the officer and asked what he could do to get the officer to drop the charges. Nothing, the officer said. The friend said the officer should just let the man go, because he is a “drunk white kid and that’s what they do.” The officer wrote, “I am currently unaware of any statute in Georgia Law that permits you to attack a Law Enforcement Officer, or any person for that matter, based on your sobriety or race.”
HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS: A suspicious package turned up at the Central Library downtown. The reporting officer wrote: “The witness [Mr. Santa Claus] noticed a black backpack left unattended for over one hour in front of the library.” The witness named Santa Claus is a 57-year-old man, according to the report. The officer evacuated the library and set up a perimeter around the suspicious package. A SWAT team and firefighters arrived on the scene. “The item was determined not to be a threat,” the officer wrote. Eventually, the backpack’s owner showed up and claimed it. “Inside the suspicious package were clothes and miscellaneous items, which were returned to him,” the officer wrote. The owner said he put the backpack down so he could smoke a cigarette — then he walked to Broad Street to get something to eat. He said he had planned to return later for his backpack. Police declared the area safe, and people were allowed to re-enter the library.
(NOT QUITE) HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: A 41-year-old man said he rented a U-Haul truck and picked up a man known as “Carwash” on Boulevard. He said Carwash was going to help him move. According to the man, he parked the U-Haul and went inside his apartment, leaving Carwash — and the car keys — in the U-Haul, which was running. As he walked back outside, he reportedly saw Carwash driving away in the U-Haul. The man doesn’t know Carwash’s real name. The U-Haul truck was reported stolen.
SANTA’S SNACKTIME? A 22-year-old woman said she returned from a weekend getaway and realized someone had been inside her apartment on New Town Circle. The suspect(s) reportedly broke a rear window to get inside. “It appears that they sat on [the woman's] couch and ate several of her Hot Pockets and Chips Ahoy cookies,” an officer wrote. According to the police report, 12 cheese Hot Pockets were gone, along with five packs of Chips Ahoy cookies. Nothing else was reported stolen.
PET PEEVES: An officer responded to a 911 hang-up call on Woodland Avenue. A man said when he returned to his apartment around 3 a.m., his door was unlocked and someone had been inside. He said his red parrots were outside his front door, and someone had opened the birdcage, allowing the red parrots to go free. But nothing was missing from his apartment, he said. The man, age 40, smelled strongly of alcohol, the officer noted.
RIVERDANCE REJECT? Around 4 p.m., a middle-aged man was allegedly waving a wooden cross at passing cars at the intersection of Freedom Parkway and Boulevard. Police ordered him to leave. So he left. Apparently, this wannabe performer was not to be stifled. About three hours later, the man returned to the same spot but this time, he allegedly danced and made gestures at passing cars. This time, police arrested the 49-year-old man for disorderly conduct and “pedestrian in the roadway.”
PARTY GIRL: An officer dealt with a 23-year-old woman passed out in the back of a car at Collier and Peachtree roads. The woman’s friend said they had been drinking at a concert venue on West Peachtree Street and at some point, the 23-year-old woman got very sick, so they called a friend to pick them up. On the way home, the 23-year-old woman reportedly vomited and defecated on herself, so her friend stopped at a gas station to check on her and call for help. Medics took her to Piedmont Hospital.
NOT SO PRETTY IN PINK: One afternoon, a 34-year-old New Orleans woman was arrested for DUI and other charges after a car accident on Ponce de Leon Avenue. Inside the patrol car, the woman repeatedly kicked the door and said she badly needed to go to the bathroom. An officer wrote, “[She] said she had some kind of infection and she was close to urinating on herself.” The officer took her to a nearby restroom. After that, the woman reportedly asked the officer to just drop her off in Decatur because the car she was driving belonged to her “sugar daddy.” En route to jail, she promised she would not drive in Atlanta anymore. “At one point, the female became very upset and said she could not go to jail because she was wearing pink underwear, and that going to jail in pink underwear was the same as going to jail in dirty underwear.”