The Blotter May 27 2004

A man walked into a convenience store on Lee Street and tried to buy some cigarettes. He wanted to pay with a $200 bill. The store clerk looked closer at the $200 bill and realized that it had a picture of President George W. Bush on it. The clerk refused the sale, and the man left without the bill. The novelty $200 bill was turned in to police as evidence.

A man left a piece of incense burning in his car ashtray while he walked inside a convenience store and gas station on McDonough Boulevard. When he returned to his car, the ashtray was on fire. He tried to extinguish the fire — unsuccessfully. Flames engulfed the car and spread to the gas pump. Flames also spread to the roof over the gas pump. The gas station sustained about $2,000 worth of damage. The man’s car — a silver Chevy Caprice — was towed away. The man, age 28, was not arrested.

A 60-year-old woman lives on Memorial Drive. Just before leaving for work one morning, she walked into her back yard, where she has a wire-fence enclosure. “She said it was filled with aluminum cans that she had been collecting for over 15 years,” the officer wrote. The pile of cans was more than 5 feet high. When the woman returned home from work, someone had broken into the enclosure and taken nearly all the cans. The officer noticed the damaged fence and that only a “small quantity of cans” remained. The cans were probably worth $500, she said.

At Music Midtown, a 27-year-old woman was listening to a band while standing in a crowd. An unknown person snatched her insulin pump from her waist and disappeared into the crowd. The insulin pump is valued at $15,000-$20,000, according to the police report.

After work, a 31-year-old woman returned to her apartment on Sylvan Way and put her purse on the sofa, where she usually puts it. Her brother, age 33, was in the apartment. The woman went to the bedroom and fell asleep. When she woke up, both her brother and the purse were gone. The woman told police that her brother is on crack. She said he came to her apartment at her request, because they were going to drive home for Mother’s Day.

A 40-year-old man called police and said earlier that day, he took his wife’s car to get a belt replaced. The husband said he then picked up another man, so they could go to work. But instead, the husband and the other man got drunk. (The husband doesn’t know the man’s last name.) The husband gave this man his wife’s car keys. The man said he was going around the corner with the car — and never returned.

Later that day, the husband called police again. This time, he said the other man took the car out to test it and never returned.

The car is a bronze 1991 Pontiac Sunfire.

A 27-year-old man was watching the NBA playoffs on a TV inside a convenience store on James P. Brawley Drive. He watched the game with an unknown man, and they started arguing. The 27-year-old said the argument lasted a few minutes, and the dispute ended peacefully. The 27-year-old walked out of the store to talk to someone, and the unknown man followed and started arguing again. Then, the unknown man picked up a chain and hit the back of the 27-year-old’s head. The 27-year-old was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with a minor injury.

A man who lives at a rooming house on Flora Avenue said the owner of the house threw a drinking party. At the end of the party, a female resident ran off with the crackers that the owner brought for the party. The man wanted her to share the crackers and confronted her about taking all the crackers. He took the bag of crackers from her, and she punched him in the head.

The man was extremely drunk while telling his story to police. The woman had already fled. Police told the man how to take out a warrant.

On Aniwaka Avenue, a woman told her younger sister not to cook any French fries, and the younger sister attacked her. The younger sister bit her arm, and the police officer noticed a bite mark and bruises on her arm.

A witness — the sisters’ cousin — said the younger sister hit the older sister in the face with a cell phone. Also, the younger sister grabbed an iron and tried to swing it at the older sister.

The officer went inside the house and talked to the younger sister, age 19. She was crying and said her arm hurt too much to talk. She did say that her mother told her she could cook some food.

Both sisters were taken to Grady Hospital. The younger sister was charged with battery and aggravated assault.

A 32-year-old woman in Irvine, Calif., was on eBay when she noticed a Hermes Birkin bag for sale. She contacted the seller, an Atlanta woman, and sent her $8,000 for the bag. One week later, the Hermes bag arrived in the mail. According to the police report, “It took her five minutes to suspect the bag was fake.” The California woman took the bag to a Hermes store in Costa Mesa, and the manager confirmed that the bag was a fake. The California woman has called the Atlanta woman several times to get a refund — without success.

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