The Blotter December 13 2006

A NEWNAN MAN parked his red Pontiac Trans Am convertible on Renaissance Parkway. When he returned, the convertible top was sliced. The only item reported missing: $1 in loose change. Total damage to the convertible top: $500.

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AN OFFICER responded to a call about a damaged car at the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown. A 29-year-old Duluth woman said, “The police took all day to get here, I could have been killed.” She said her car (a 2006 Nissan Maxima) was damaged in the parking lot. There was fresh yellow paint scraped along the passenger door. A security guard said the Duluth woman hit a yellow concrete barrier while trying to leave the parking lot. The woman wanted the parking lot owners to pay for her car damages. She said the police officer violated her civil rights and did not “protect and serve” her. The officer gave her a case number for the damage report. No charges were filed.

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AT HARTSFIELD-JACKSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, a store employee said a man stole a DVD player and put it in his carry-on bag. Police approached the man, who then returned the DVD player to the store. Police searched the man and found $15,481 in cash on him. The DVD player is worth about $300. The man, age 20, was charged with shoplifting.

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A WEST VIRGINIA MAN called Atlanta police and said someone used his debit card and his mother’s maiden name to buy stuff online. He said the person bought more than $2,000 worth of shoes from Neiman Marcus — and the shoes were delivered via FedEx to an apartment on Campbellton Road in Atlanta. A police report was filed.

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THERE WAS A FIRE at a scrap yard on Echo Street. Police encountered three men who admitted they were burning copper wire. The reporting officer wrote, “The smoke from the wire was spread out over three city blocks and the smoke was so thick, it made it very difficult to breathe.” Police told the men to put out the fire. The men were charged with “obnoxious gases & odors” and went to jail.

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TWO UNDERCOVER OFFICERS saw a red pickup truck parked on a playing field at Compton Park. The officers approached the driver and noticed a plastic cup on the tailgate. The driver, a 29-year-old man, said he was drinking gin and Coke. Police also saw that the man’s dog was running loose on the field. The man said he was trying to leave the dog in the park because of the high cost of pet care. One officer suggested that the man take his dog to a pet shelter, rather than leave the dog in the park. The driver was ticketed for prohibited conduct. Police let the man leave with his dog.

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A MAN walked into the Zone 2 Precinct and said he wanted to file a police report against his neighbor. He said the neighbor lets his large poodle run free in the neighborhood on a regular basis. Also, he said, the poodle defecates in his yard, and the neighbor doesn’t clean it up. He said he talked to his neighbor about this problem, and the neighbor e-mailed him in August, promising to build a yard for his large poodle. But now, it’s December, and there’s no fence. He also said his neighbor continually drives too fast down their street (Dawn View Lane). A police report was filed.

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AROUND 5 A.M., an officer was working an extra job at a Buckhead nightclub. A woman ran up and said there was a fight on the dance floor. The officer spotted a 27-year-old man fighting both security staff and other patrons. The officer tried to stop the man. Eventually, the officer managed to corral the man outside (with the help of security guards). The officer asked, “Why were you fighting on the dance floor?” All the man could say was they wouldn’t let his girlfriend use the bathroom. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.

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ONE SUNDAY, a 52-year-old man attended services at a church on Metropolitan Parkway. The deacon said that during services, the man put his black hoodie over a woman’s Bible case as it lay on a church pew. According to the deacon, the Bible case resembles a purse. The deacon said as church members turned to place their offering, the man tried to steal the Bible case and walk out the church. The deacon grabbed the man and called police. The man said the deacon was lying. He went to jail.

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AT HARTSFIELD-JACKSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, the captain of a flight to Moscow asked two passengers to leave the plane. According to the police report, the passengers (a married elderly couple) were both sick and incapable of taking care of each other during the 12-hour flight. Both the husband and wife recently suffered a stroke. According to the report, the wife went to the restroom and was unable to return to her seat. Her husband couldn’t help her. (He also has Alzheimer’s disease.)

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The husband said he wasn’t leaving the plane, even if the police took him to jail. Two officers tried to remove the husband, who started shouting and resisting. Police handcuffed the 70-year-old man, and he scratched one officer. Eventually, police got the elderly couple off the plane and found their son. The 70-year-old man got a ticket for disorderly conduct.

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Items in The Blotter are taken from actual Atlanta police reports. The Blotter Diva compiles them and puts them into her own words.