The Blotter August 21 2002

A 33-year-old woman called police to her home on Bent Creek Way. She said her neighbor in the apartment across the hall has several cats that crawl on her car. She said one cat is responsible for a cut in the vinyl top of her car, a Mazda Miata. In addition, the woman said during the past few months, someone has stolen her personal information and used it fraudulently. As a result, her credit report is damaged. She added that she received a letter from the state court in reference to a case she has nothing to do with. The officer advised her of her options. No further information was available.

b>On Bankhead Highway, an officer was running random checks on car registration tags. He checked the tag on a Chevy Caprice Classic and discovered that it was really registered to a Pontiac Firebird. The officer stopped the driver of the Chevy, a 27-year-old woman who weighs 256 pounds and was wearing a flowered dress. She said the Chevy was a friend’s car. She was driving on a suspended license, so the officer arrested her. Once in the patrol car, the woman said she was sweating, and she was a diabetic who needed her insulin. The officer called for an ambulance. But when the ambulance arrived, the woman “began laughing” and said “she didn’t actually need an ambulance but her handcuffs were just too tight,” wrote the officer. The officer checked her handcuffs and was able to “stick my entire index finger between her wrist and the handcuffs.” She went to jail.

b>An officer was working an extra job at a bar on Peachtree Road. He saw a 22-year-old man from Jacksonville, Fla., with his hands around the throat of another customer. The customer pleaded for the officer’s help. The officer grabbed the 22-year-old’s arms and started to escort him out of the bar. The 22-year-old tensed his muscles, spun toward the officer and put his hands in the front of his own pants. The officer took him to the ground and handcuffed him. The 22-year-old was acting strange. He told the officer, “I worship you. ... I wanna go back to high school. ... Can I just give you some money?” Also, the 22-year-old was foaming at the corners of his mouth, but he refused medical treatment. He was arrested for disorderly conduct and taken to jail.

b>A 23-year-old woman said she was “meeting new people” at a parking lot on Memorial Drive. She said she sat in the backseat of a car, which belonged to a man she didn’t know. She sat and talked for about five minutes. Then, the man grabbed her black Mickey Mouse change purse and pushed her out of the car. The woman had a male friend in the area, and the friend grabbed the man in an attempt to keep him from leaving. The man grabbed the woman’s friend and dragged him 15-20 feet across the parking lot. The man then took off. The woman said her Mickey Mouse change purse contained $100.

b>A 35-year-old woman from Columbia, S.C., said a young man gave her a ride back to her hotel on Peachtree Road. She didn’t know the man’s name, but he had silver teeth and piercings on his face. She said the young man came up to her room so she could pay him for gas. The woman briefly went into another room, leaving the young man alone for a few minutes. The next morning, the woman realized her Ralph Lauren wallet was missing.

b>A 41-year-old woman said she went to an apartment on McPherson Avenue to borrow some money. She knocked on the door and a man in a flowered shirt answered. She knew the man. He threw a dollar on the ground. The woman said she is not a dog. She said the man then grabbed her by the throat and hit her head against the apartment wall. She said he has a history of drug use and crack is sold out of his apartment. Police went to the apartment, but residents said the man wasn’t there.

b>Around 10:15 a.m., a woman was walking her dog near her home on Piedmont Avenue. She noticed that the dog was sniffing something in the bushes. She looked closer, and realized that the dog was sniffing a handgun with a partial handle. The gun was turned in to police.

b>A 32-year-old man in a state of drunkenness entered a church on Washington Street. Another man asked the drunk man to leave and not come back until he was sober. As he left the church, the drunk man kicked the glass door, shattering it. He fled before police arrived.

b>The front desk clerk at an apartment complex on Peachtree Road said a man called and said, “I’m tired of you messing with my cable.” Then, the man hung up. The clerk called police and gave the man’s phone number.

b>On Thirkeld Avenue, a 42-year-old man said a drug dealer walked up to him and accused him of stealing his drugs. “It wasn’t me,” said the 42-year-old. The drug dealer said, “I’ll teach all of you.” The drug dealer pulled out a gun and shot the 42-year-old in the middle of his big toe.

b>A 25-year-old woman left a cafe on Peachtree Road and started walking down Peachtree Street. Suddenly, a paintball pellet hit her arm. Her boyfriend said he believed the pellet came from a blue car with chrome rims that passed by. But he wasn’t sure. The woman didn’t need medical treatment.

i>All items in The Blotter are taken from actual Atlanta police reports and are public record.