The Blotter June 05 2003

Two female dancers got into a scrap at a nightclub on Cheshire Bridge Road. The first dancer said she tried to walk away from the argument, but when she turned her back, the other dancer attacked her. The officer noted that the first dancer had “several abrasions to her breast and her fingernails were broken.”

A 33-year-old woman from Riverdale told police she went to a Cuban restaurant on Ponce de Leon Avenue. She said a waitress turned around and dropped a bowl of salsa, spilling it all over her. In the police report, the woman listed the following damages: salsa on clothes ($50); salsa on hair ($40), and burning, swelling, pain and redness in right eye from salsa ($0).

A 42-year-old man said his nephew came to his apartment on McDaniel Street. The nephew was upset because he sold the nephew’s pants. The 42-year-old said his nephew then struck him from behind and another man held him down. Then, the nephew hit him with an unknown object. The 42-year-old had a deep cut and swelling on his forehead and eye. The 42-year-old admitted that he is a drug addict, and he often buys drugs from his nephew and the other man. He was taken to Grady Hospital.

On Campbellton Road, words were exchanged between two 19-year-old women (who are related by marriage). The first 19-year-old said they argued about who got to sit in the front seat of the car. The second 19-year-old has acne and her name tattooed on her right arm. The second 19-year-old went to the apartment to change clothes so they could fight. When she returned, they fought, but someone broke it up. The second 19-year-old walked away, but then she came back and cut the first 19-year-old in the neck and back with a razor.

The first 19-year-old was taken to Grady Hospital.

A woman from Plant City, Fla., called Atlanta police and said she got copies of her credit report and noticed that she had some property in Atlanta that she never bought. She said a mortgage was taken out in her name for $204,000 for a home on Tuskeegee Street. The account was closed more than a year ago. The woman never signed any loan papers, and she has lived in Florida her whole life. She just graduated from college.

A 58-year-old woman went to a bail bonding company on Peachtree Street to get someone out of jail. A man in khaki shorts sat in a black-and-gold Lexus outside the bonding company. He asked if she was going inside. The man said he worked for the bonding company and could take $185 from her and go pay the bond, while she went inside to fill out paperwork. So she gave him $185 cash. Then, the man drove away, past the jail and south on Peachtree Street. He never paid the bond. The Lexus had dark tinted windows.

On Westridge Road, a 31-year-old woman hit a female friend in the head with a case of beer. When police arrived, the case of beer was lying in the middle of the road. The friend’s eye was swollen shut. The 31-year-old was charged with aggravated assault.

An officer tracked a green pickup truck traveling 53 mph in a 35 mph zone on Central Avenue. The officer stopped the truck and spoke with the driver, a 48-year-old man in a blue dress shirt and khaki pants. At first, the driver seemed OK. But as the officer wrote out the ticket, the driver’s “personality became hostile and defensive.” The driver said, “Why are you stopping me? You are gonna shoot me, aren’t you? Are you taking me to jail? I have heard and seen what police do.” The officer noted that the driver “never gave me a chance to explain the speeding citation ...” Instead, the driver called someone on his cell phone and shouted, “Help, help! There is an officer trying to kill me!” The only objects in the officer’s hands were a pen and a citation log. The officer called his supervisor, and then talked to the driver’s apparent attorney on the cell phone. The attorney said the driver seemed delusional and schizophrenic.

The officer said his supervisor would arrive shortly. “No, I don’t want to see him,” the driver said. “Am I free to go?”

“Yes,” said the officer. The driver left.

Around 1 a.m., at a convenience store on Moreland Avenue, a clerk saw a man grab five boxes of Tide laundry detergent. The man tried to leave the store without paying, but the clerk locked the front door. The man then kicked and pushed the front door, breaking the Plexiglas. The suspect and his five boxes of Tide headed west on Moreland.

A 33-year-old woman on Griffin Street said her child’s father repeatedly called her between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. The man, age 60, never said anything during the calls, but the song “The Ghetto Man” always played in the background. During one call, the woman heard the sound of water running in the background.

A 54-year-old man said he broke the window of his wife’s ‘99 Dodge Caravan because she tried to run over him. The wife said the husband tossed a brick through her car window because they were arguing. The husband said they argued because the wife wouldn’t take him down to the shelter, where he wanted to sleep for the night.

A construction worker pulled up the floors at a residence on St. Charles Avenue and discovered some bones. It isn’t clear what type of bones they are. The Fulton County Medical Examiner was called to the scene and took the bones back to the lab.

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