The Blotter April 06 2005

At City Hall on Trinity Avenue, a female lawyer was attending a transportation meeting. She was informed that a man wanted to speak to a lawyer with the city’s Aviation Department. So she talked to the man (who was wearing camouflage pants). The man expressed dissatisfaction regarding a criminal trespass case against him to keep him off airport property.

According to the police report, the man “then applauded Brian Nichols [the person who allegedly committed the shootings in the Superior Court Building of Fulton County] by saying that he could understand why [Nichols] did it.” “Sometimes they make you do that,” the man said, adding that he would not go back to jail, so if he had to do the same thing, that was fine.

The man said he would continue to go to the airport, and in fact, he had visited the airport in previous weeks. The man said his prior arrest was illegal, and if the Atlanta Police Department tried to arrest him again, he would shoot them because it would be self-defense and it wouldn’t matter if the officers were in uniform or not. The man said if bystanders at the airport were killed during the confrontation, it would be unfortunate and although it would not be intentional, it would be a consequence of his actions, which he deemed “self-defense.”

The female lawyer discussed this information with the city attorney, who contacted the office of Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington. Also, the commander of the Atlanta Airport Police Unit was notified. According to the report, the commander was familiar with this man from numerous prior incidents, including a trespassing arrest.

During investigation, it was revealed that the man has used another name. The reporting officer secured an arrest warrant for the man.

At a hospital on Boulevard, an officer responded to a call about a threatening person. A hospital employee said a regular patient was brought to her appointment by her adult daughter at about 9:30 a.m. The employee explained a new fee for the completion of certain paperwork and the daughter got upset. Efforts were made to calm the daughter and explain the paperwork fee, but the daughter remained belligerent. According to the police report, the daughter said to her mother, “Why don’t we come up here and shoot everyone in the office like Brian Nichols [allegedly] did at the courthouse.” The hospital employee was the only witness to the threat, and she contacted a co-worker. The co-worker confronted the daughter about the threatening statement. The daughter said she was “only playing.” But she continued to act belligerent about the paperwork fee. Hospital security was contacted. A criminal trespass warning was issued to the daughter, and she and her mother were escorted from the hospital.

The employee wanted to press charges against the daughter. However, the name of the daughter isn’t clear. The mother listed the names of her two daughters on a hospital information sheet, and the medical staff believes that the suspect is one of those daughters.

Atlanta police spoke with hospital security about the matter. A security guard said they were increasing vigilance at the hospital and were monitoring all entrances via surveillance cameras to prevent the daughter from returning.

ON BOULEVARD, an officer responded to a call about a man who was rummaging though trash cans and throwing trash onto the street. The man was wearing a green camouflage outfit. When the officer arrived, the man in camouflage was pushing a shopping cart. The officer asked the man if he knew anything about the trash that was strewn about the street. The man said he threw trash into the street so it would help police catch drug dealers when they are trying to get away from police in their cars.

The man, age 49, was jailed for littering.

A SECURITY GUARD saw a middle-aged man walk into a building on Peachtree Street. The man was talking to himself, even though he was with his mother and sister. The security guard followed the man to an office suite. The man became loud and angry. He yelled that the FBI was following him, and then he swung a 2-by-4 at several people. The man remained in the waiting area for about 30 minutes (he had an appointment with someone in the office). He left before police arrived.

A 72-YEAR-OLD church pastor got a call from an unknown woman. The woman said she was moving from Goose Creek, S.C., to Atlanta and needed assistance to find a place to live and work. Later that day, the woman called the pastor again. She said her car broke down, and she was at a repair shop. Then, she gave the phone to a man who said he was a mechanic. The man said he replaced the axel on the woman’s car, and the repair bill was $725. But, the man said, since the pastor was a Christian, he would reduce the bill by $100. The church pastor was instructed to wire the money via Western Union, using “Ann” as the identifying phrase. The church pastor went to a grocery store on Moreland Avenue and wired $625. Later that day, the church pastor drove to a hotel on Howell Mill Road to check on the woman. (Apparently, the pastor believed she would be at this hotel when she got to Atlanta.) Hotel employees said no woman by that name ever checked in.

The church pastor never heard from the woman again.

ONE AFTERNOON, a 27-year-old woman was walking down Peachtree Street. Suddenly, she realized her cell phone was no longer in her hand. So she found a phone and dialed her cell phone number. An unknown man answered. “You are lost,” the man said. He refused to return her phone.

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