The Blotter May 06 2004

At a luxury hotel on 14th Street, a 40-year-old man ran up an $80 bar tab and then kept riding up and down the elevators. The man wore cowboy boots and he wasn’t a hotel guest. (It was also 3:20 a.m.) The hotel security guard stopped him and called police. The man had $5 cash, no ID and gave two different dates of birth. The man said his brother was supposed to pick him up earlier and pay his bar tab. He was arrested for theft of services.

A police officer saw a 49-year-old man approach several people who were leaving a hotel on West Peachtree Street. “I decided to stop [the man] when he followed a family of six to the corner ...,” the officer wrote. After the officer stopped him, the man said, “I’m going to work, officer, at the Underground. I ain’t got time to talk to you.”

Then the man took some paper from his pocket and threw it on the ground. Don’t litter, the officer said. The man picked up the paper. The officer tried to tell the man why she stopped him. Again, the man threw the paper on the ground, saying, “Look, I’ve got to find a job, just let me go to the Varsity to look for work.”

Pick up the paper, the officer said. The man picked it up.

The man again threw the paper to the ground (for the third time). The man said, “Ah, lady, get back into your car and cruise on. You are holding me up from finding a job cooking chicken at this place on Ponce de Leon.”

The man was arrested for littering and taken to jail.

Two men checked into a hotel on Ponce de Leon Avenue. They took the TV from the hotel room and left some personal items behind. (The two men left without checking out of the hotel.) Six days later, one man returned to the hotel. He wanted to get his personal belongings. A hotel employee called police. When the officer arrived, the man said his roommate was the one who stole the TV, and the roommate has moved to Tennessee.

Police arrested the man for theft.

Police saw a man driving recklessly at the intersection of Ashby and Simpson streets. The man was speeding and driving in the middle of the lane divider. He cut from lane to lane without signaling and drove on the wrong side of the road to pass a car. His two young children were in the backseat. When police stopped the car, the man said he was driving crazy because he was excited about his wife having a child.

The man, age 47, was driving on a suspended license. He was arrested and his car was impounded.Two officers were patrolling a hotel on Armour Street. While walking past the pool, the officers saw a man and woman having sex on a lounge chair in the pool area. (It was about 10:30 a.m.) The outdoor pool is located in the center of the hotel courtyard. “There were dozens of people walking through the courtyard at the time ...,” the officer wrote.

The man, age 20, and the woman, age 23, were arrested for indecency.

An officer was sent to Oakview Road to deal with a person lying under a car. When the officer arrived, he saw a woman — who weighed about 200 pounds — lying under the car, which was parked on a city street. There was a half-empty can of Wild Cat nearby. “I’ve been drinking all day,” said the woman, age 53. She was arrested for disorderly conduct under the influence.

A woman was scaling fences and screaming at a post office and distribution center on James Jackson Parkway. The woman, who appeared to be on drugs, ran through the parking lot. A police officer cornered her on a loading ramp. Stop and get on the ground, the officer said. You’re not the police and get the fuck away from me, the woman replied. The woman struggled mightily against arrest, kicking and screaming.

At Grady Memorial Hospital, the woman came down from her high and became cooperative. She said she ran to the post office because a man showed her insurance policies on his dead parents who died suspiciously, and she thought he was going to kill her. This man claimed he was working with the Atlanta Police homicide division, but she knows he isn’t a police officer, she said. So she thought the officer who arrested her was conspiring with this man. The woman said she had been smoking crack all day. Also, her feet were injured. The officer asked what was wrong with her feet. The woman said she fell from a ledge six months ago and shattered her feet and ankles.

A 28-year-old woman was advertised as an escort on the Internet. An officer called the woman, who gave him directions to her Buckhead apartment. Bring $225 cash, she said. The officer arrived and met the woman, who had long brown hair and wore a black dress. She told the officer to lie on the bed and remove his clothing, except for his underwear. “The female then got out some cocoa butter and began massaging my body,” the officer wrote. “The female removed her clothing while performing the massage.” The officer signaled for a backup unit, who arrested the woman for escorting and massaging without a permit.

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