The Blotter February 13 2002

A 25-year-old woman on Lenox Road said for the last seven or eight weeks, when leaving for work, she has found items on her car windshield. On different occasions, she found one calendar, three postcards with no name or address, two roses and a letter with a picture of the New York City skyline (with no return address). There were no threats on the items, and a police officer was unable to find any fingerprints on them.

At a gas station on Spring Street, an officer told a 21-year-old man to leave. The 21-year-old refused and was charged with criminal trespass. The reporting officer wrote that the man was mentally unstable. “He kept losing touch with reality. He believed I was an alien. He was also talking to himself.” The 21-year-old was taken to Grady Hospital’s psychiatric ward.

An officer responded to a one-car accident on Callen Circle. Upon arrival, the officer saw two men had just pushed a Honda Civic back onto the roadway from a hill the car went down. The driver, a 24-year-old man in a white T-shirt and jeans, stumbled toward the officer. When the officer asked him a question, the driver would repeat the question and ask, “What’s going on?” The driver admitted to drinking three vodka drinks. He had a bloody nose, but refused medical treatment. The officer asked the driver to recite the alphabet. The driver repeated the officer’s question and said, “What’s going on?”

The driver was put in the patrol car, where he vomited on the floor and his clothing. The driver was taken to jail for a breath test. The test administrator asked the driver if he agreed to take the breath test. The driver said, “Hell yeah, let’s do it! I know I’m fucked up!” He blew a .183, enough for a DUI charge.

At a convenience store on Bouldercrest Drive, a female employee said a white car backed into the front doors of the store. A man in dark clothes got out of the white car, walked into the store, and started putting store items into the car. Then he drove away. The employee couldn’t give the police a tag number or tell in which direction the car went. Missing items include 50 packs of Newport cigarettes, $1,136 cash, some Lotto tickets and a videotape.

On Peachtree Road, a 41-year-old Jonesboro woman said she parked her car in front of a parking space to let her daughter out. A man pulled behind her and yelled for her to move her car so he could park. She didn’t move. Then, she said, he threatened to kick her ass if she didn’t move her car.

But the man, age 55, told a different story: He said he did ask the woman to move her car, but never threatened her. He said the woman threatened to blow him away if he didn’t leave her alone. Both received tickets for terroristic threats and acts.

A 37-year-old man told police his money was stolen and he was taken advantage of. He was at the intersection of Piedmont Road and South Prado when he was flagged down by a distressed muscular man in his 40s, who was dressed in casual business attire. The man gave his name and said he was from Durham, N.C.

The 37-year-old invited the man into his car and the two rode around for a while. Then, the 37-year-old stopped at an ATM machine, took out $400 and gave it to the stranger. He dropped off the stranger at a gas station on North Avenue. The stranger went inside, spoke to a clerk, and walked back out. He gave the 37-year-old a handwritten IOU for the money.

A 31-year-old College Park woman said as she entered a gas station on Campbellton Road, sparks from a cutting torch landed in her hair. She said her hair was damaged and her scalp had minor burns on it. “I did not observe any scalp damage,” wrote the reporting officer. The torch operator admitted to using the torch but was unaware of her presence. No medical attention was required.

A 26-year-old woman stopped at a convenience store on Campbellton Road. When she returned to her car, a bearded man was washing her car windows. She asked the man not to clean her windows. He got mad, swung a level at her and threatened to beat her in the head with it. A witness corroborated her story.

On Henry Thomas Drive, a 91-year-old man said early one morning a male neighbor came to his door and asked to use the phone. The 91-year-old agreed and let the man in. Then, the elderly man went upstairs. Next, he heard a door slam. He went downstairs and found his TV on the ground outside. The TV was broken. The neighbor was gone. The elderly man didn’t know his neighbor’s first name.

At a restaurant on Alabama Street, a female bartender told an officer that a woman was causing a disturbance and needed to be escorted out. The officer wrote in his report that he asked the woman to leave several times “... and she continued to argue with the bartender and ignore me while I was talking to her and continued to ignore my presence.” The woman was charged with criminal trespass and taken to jail.

A company manager at a Burger King on Northside Drive conducted a financial audit and discovered that two deposits were missing. The manager questioned the 48-year-old woman who managed the Northside Drive location. The 48-year-old said she took the two deposits home. The company manager asked her to return the deposits. When the 48-year-old showed up at work, she said he couldn’t find the two deposits. The deposits totaled $4,068.30.

A 37-year-old man said he entered a gas station on Moreland Avenue and began to warm up a cup of Ramen Noodles. Then, he said, the store clerk removed him from the store, hit him with a baton all over his body and pulled a gun on him. The clerk, a 48-year-old man with a ponytail and stubble, said he told the man to leave and the man became agitated. The clerk said he escorted the man out of the store. Once outside, the clerk said, the man tripped over a concrete block, got up and fell again. The clerk said the man had a criminal trespass warning not to be in the store. He said he had the baton in his hand, but never used it.

The 37-year-old man said his friend witnessed the event. But police noted that the friend was very drunk. The 37-year-old was drunk, too. No charges were filed.

At Grady Hospital on Butler Street, a nurse reported that a man had gone in and out of several patients’ rooms. The man, from Lithonia, was heavyset, missing teeth and had a shoulder scar. When security approached the man, he claimed to be visiting his girlfriend but there was no one registered at Grady under his girlfriend’s name. Security detained the man and found a criminal trespass warning in his file.

A 38-year-old man said he was “life-flighted” to Grady Hospital from an accident scene on I-75 south of Hiawassee. He said he was conscious and alert when he arrived to Grady, and his clothes and belongings were put in a plastic bag.

The man said he was moved several times while at Grady, due to his severe cut. A month later, when he got his belongings back, he opened his wallet and discovered that $400 was missing, and his watch (valued at $980) was gone.

All items in the Blotter are taken from actual Atlanta police reports and are public record.??