The Blotter May 04 2005

A middle-aged man on Virginia Circle said a stranger knocked on his door at 2 a.m. The long-haired stranger was dressed entirely in black. Also, the stranger was barefoot. The stranger kept knocking. Finally, the stranger left a pair of black leather cowboy boots (size 11-D) on the man’s porch. Then, the stranger left.

Police searched the area for the barefoot stranger to no avail.

A 20-year-old woman and her boyfriend were asleep in the bedroom of the boyfriend’s apartment on W.M. Holmes Boulevard. Another woman walked into the bedroom. This other woman poured a mixture of grits, hot water and another substance on the couple, causing their skin to burn. The grit-pouring woman fled before police arrived. The couple were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.

On Lenox Road, a young woman left the front door of her apartment open while she was gone. When she returned, a male acquaintance was inside her apartment. All of the stuff inside her apartment was covered with flame-retardant powder from a fire extinguisher. The male acquaintance said there was a fire and he put it out. “Upon further investigation, it was learned that no fire had taken place at the apartment,” the officer wrote. The male acquaintance, age 22, left an undisclosed amount of money on the table to aid with the cleanup. The woman decided not to press charges. Police told her how to take out a warrant if she changed her mind later. “Dispute was settled amongst the parties involved,” the officer wrote.

A 37-year-old man called police to report a theft at his booth on Jonesboro Road. According to the police officer’s written report, the man said someone “took the two described iron candle operas from his outside booth.” The “candle operas” were valued at $2,200. (Note: The Blotter Diva wonders if the officer meant to type “candelabras” instead of “candle operas.”)

An officer went to a house on Tupelo Street to deal with the possible abuse of an elderly woman. The woman had large sores on both legs that were 3 to 4 inches wide. Her toenails were curled up and growing into her feet. When medics found the woman, she was lying in her own feces and urine. When medics turned the woman over, they saw that she had a 4-inch opening on her anus. The Atlanta Fire Department had to use ladders to remove the woman from the home, because of holes in the steps and floors. The officer spoke with the woman’s son. The officer asked, “Are you the caretaker for your mother?” The son, age 42, said yes. He said he lives with his mother and today, she didn’t recognize him.

The officer asked, “Why have you not cleaned the urine and feces from your mother?” The son replied, “When she urinated on the floor, I clean it up. I have taken medical courses and know about infectious diseases.”

The officer wrote, “When speaking with [the son] I could detect the odor of person that has not cleaned themselves in several days. ... The house smelled like rotten meat.”

The officer called his supervisors and asked for the number for DeKalb County Department of Family and Children Services.

A 34-year-old California woman was staying at a hotel on Spring Street. One afternoon, she left the hotel for a little while. The California woman said someone entered her locked hotel room and stole her black-lace rhinestone shirt. She said the shirt was brand new and worth $100 for the suffering of her loss and the cost of finding transportation to go replace the shirt. She said she tried to seek compensation for her loss from the hotel manager, who initially agreed to settle the matter. She said the manager became insulting and refused to pay for the black-lace rhinestone shirt. No suspects.

A 23-year-old woman returned to her apartment on Farrington Place and discovered that someone had kicked in the front and back doors. The alleged thief stole two pairs of shoes, a DVD player and a TV. Also, the alleged thief took some sausage out of the refrigerator, and cooked it in a pan. No suspects.

A middle-aged man lay down outside a government building on West Peachtree Street and refused to leave. So police were called. It was 5:30 a.m.When an officer approached, the man rolled over on his stomach, put his hands behind his back and said, “Take me to jail. I am not leaving.”

The man, age 49, was arrested for trespassing.

At 3:40 a.m., an officer saw a car speeding on Williams Street. The officer stopped the car and spoke with the driver, a 33-year-old Kennesaw man. The driver said he was on the phone and didn’t realize he was going so fast. During investigation, the officer deduced that the man’s driver’s license was suspended. Also, the tag on the license plate had been reported stolen out of Cherokee County. The officer put the man in the patrol car. While the officer was writing up the tickets, the man blurted out that he really didn’t know his license was suspended. The officer wrote, “I ignored him and continued writing.”

The man kept talking. “Now, as far as the tag goes, you got me,” he said.

The officer stopped writing and looked at the man. The man kept talking. “Yeah, about four months ago, I took it off a car in a parking lot in Cherokee.”

The officer wrote, “I thanked [the man] for being so honest and transported him to pretrial detention [i.e., jail].”

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