The Blotter April 08 2009

WOMEN GONE WILD: Two officers responded to a fight call on Cushman Circle and found several women engaged in a verbal spat. A 25-year-old woman reportedly threw something upstairs, trying to hit a 27-year-old woman. One officer grabbed the 25-year-old woman, and the other officer was trying to help when “a puddle of water came pouring down on myself and [the other officer] from upstairs. We were drenched in what appeared to be bleach, but as it turns out, the liquid was only water poured from a bleach bottle.” Police gave both women tickets for disorderly conduct. Apparently, the argument extended to the 25-year-old woman’s mother. She allegedly burned the other woman “with fire on her hand,” police wrote. Also, a man said he was walking his dog, when the mother shouted at him and pointed a sharp object in his face. Apparently, the man’s wife sprayed the mother with pepper spray. The 60-year-old mother went to a psychiatric ward.

WORST HIDING PLACE EVER, PART I: One afternoon, an officer was driving past Centennial Olympic Park when he reported a man “standing facing the granite sign marking the entrance. From my position, I saw him unzip his pants and begin to urinate between the ‘n’ and ‘t’ in Centennial.” The officer said several people with kids also saw the man urinating and hurried into the park. The officer arrested the 48-year-old man for urinating in public. “[He] was compliant and explained that he had been drinking from the fountain at the park and needed to go to the bathroom and that the large granite sign at the entrance to the park seemed like the most secluded spot he could find.”

WORST HIDING PLACE EVER, PART II: An officer was patrolling an apartment complex on Old Hapeville Road. “As I pulled into the complex, I noticed [a 47-year-old man] walking toward me in the rain. I asked [him] how he was doing. He stated good. I asked [him] what he was doing. He stated that he was going to his old lady’s house.” According to the officer, the man appeared extremely nervous, he couldn’t stand still, and “he was darting his eyes all over the place as if he was looking for a way out of the area.” As the officer exited his patrol vehicle, the man allegedly “bent down and squatted and placed his right hand underneath my marked patrol vehicle and placed a small yellow bag on the ground. The officer walked over and examined the bag, which contained three small pieces of suspected crack cocaine. “[The man] admitted to me that the suspected crack cocaine was his and that he did place it under my patrol vehicle.”  

COVETING HOPE? An officer was drinking coffee at a Starbucks on Fifth Street when he noticed a 42-year-old bald man “with a large book concealed under his left side, holding his arm tightly against his side and book to keep it from falling.” The man reportedly exited a bookstore via Starbucks and headed onto Fifth Street. The officer said he asked the man to stop — and the man took off running. The officer ran after the man, who turned on Peachtree, where “two Georgia Tech police officers, who were eating at Gordon Biersh, came out.” The man reportedly tossed the New York Times book, Obama: The Historic Journey over a wooden fence just before the Georgia Tech police tackled him. The man said he found the book on the steps inside Barnes & Noble and thought someone had dropped it. He didn’t have a receipt. He was arrested for shoplifting.

STRANGE RIDE: On Dearwood Drive, a man said someone broke into his home, ransacked three bedrooms and stole some jewelry, a digital camera and a Sony game. Also, he said, the intruders put a bunch of DVD movies in a pillowcase — but left the pillowcase filled with movies on a bedroom floor. His wife talked to several neighbors and found one who said he witnessed people in two cars casing the area. He described one car as a garish-colored Datsun pickup truck and the second car as a Ford Ranger with “GODFATHER” written on the side. Also, he gave police a tag number he wrote down from one of the vehicles.

HOT FOR TEACHER’S STUFF? At a middle school on Niskey Lake Road, a teacher said she stepped out of the classroom for five minutes during a class change. The teacher said when she returned to the classroom, about $1,200 worth of her stuff was gone. Items reported missing include: a leather jacket ($400), black leather mink-trimmed gloves ($150), a digital camera and a cell phone. No suspects. 


GROWING OLD WITH NO DIGNITY: Police responded to a call about a person injured at an apartment on St. Charles Avenue in Virginia-Highland. The 86-year-old woman complained of a hurt arm. An officer wrote, “While there, I observed garbage piled around the apartment, roaches crawling on the floor and walls and it smelled of feces.” A medic asked the woman if she had any nearby relatives who could help with her living conditions. She said no. The woman went to Piedmont Hospital. The officer notified Adult Protective Services.

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