The Blotter July 15 2009

SEEING RED: At Underground Atlanta, a security guard said he saw a man take a ketchup container and squirt ketchup on the mall’s sign. The man said he could not clean up the mess and would do it again if not stopped, according to the police report. “Tomato ketchup was squirted all over the Underground mall sign,” the officer noted. The man, age 34, was arrested for disorderly conduct.

POO-POO TO YOU: Two days later, the same officer responded to a trespassing call at Underground Atlanta. A security guard said she saw a man pull down his pants and defecate on the mall sidewalk in front of several passers-by. The man had gotten a trespassing warning to stay away from Underground Atlanta property, about three weeks ago. The officer arrested the 36-year-old man for public indecency and trespassing. “[The man] began to act out, pulling and tugging away to flee from the location,” the officer wrote. “[The man] yelled out, stating, ‘You white cracker fuck.’ [The man] stated he was going to do whatever he wanted as he twisted his arms around in the handcuffs and tried to make a scene.” He got an additional charge of obstructing police.

TOMOHAWK CHOP: Two officers were in an unmarked tinted car near Turner Field. They reportedly spotted a man holding up Atlanta Braves tickets for sale. “Once we approached and exited the vehicle, [the man] attempted to place the wad of 35 Braves tickets back in his pocket. The officer said he asked the man how much he was selling the Braves tickets for. “Whatever I can … can barely give them away right now,” he replied. Police arrested the 28-year-old man for allegedly scalping tickets. They searched him and found $501 on him.

THE BUS STOPS HERE: According to a police report, two men said they were riding a Greyhound bus when another man stood up and said he might blow up the bus, and that he had weapons in his possession, and Americans have it coming to them, and he is going to Israel. Other passengers said the man used profanity in front of small children. All the children were moved to the front of the bus for safety reasons. The bus driver said he asked the man to sit down several times but he refused. A Greyhound security officer detained the man at the station on Forsyth Street until Atlanta police arrived. A Homeland Security unit interviewed the suspect. (He’s a 35-year-old man from Conover, N.C.) Police charged him with terroristic threats and took him to Fulton County Jail.

NIGHT SWIMMING: On Notting Hill Drive, a woman called police and said she saw an 18-year-old woman climb over the pool gate and a man break the lock and enter the pool. When the officer arrived, he found the 18-year-old woman inside the restricted pool area. The officer asked her what she was doing there. She said she knew someone in the complex, who is allowed to use the pool. The officer arrested the woman for being in a restricted pool area and for allegedly climbing the fence. The officer wrote, “She struggled violently and stated she would ‘knock me the fuck out if I put any handcuffs on her.’” The woman lives on Peace Valley Drive. She went to jail.

JACKSON CASH-IN? On Forsyth Street, an officer saw a backpack and a suitcase on a city sidewalk — and a man running away. Another man standing nearby said he didn’t know who owns the open bags containing counterfeit items. The bags reportedly contained $275 worth of Michael Jackson CDs, additional DVDs worth $2770, cigarettes, a lighter, an iPod, and a DVD player. The officer wrote, “All illegal items were taken to lost property due to the fact no one claimed the items. ...”

INDEPENDENCE DAY BANG: On July Fourth, a man said he was weeding his children’s garden in the front yard of his home on Candler Park Drive when he found a semi-automatic pistol in the bushes. In a nearby planter, he found the gun’s magazine loaded with five rounds of ammunition. An officer arrived and made the weapon safe “by locking the slide into the rear, making sure no ammunition was [in] the chamber.” The officer ran a computer check on the pistol; it had not been reported stolen. The officer turned the pistol in to police property for safekeeping and ballistics tests.

INDEPENDENCE DAY LETDOWN: A Texas woman held her wedding rehearsal dinner at a high-end steakhouse on Piedmont Road on July Fourth. She said around 10:25 p.m., she went to the restroom and then she left the steakhouse and arrived at her hotel by 10:40 p.m. Then, she discovered that her engagement ring was missing from her finger.
    “[The woman] said she had taken the ring off earlier to show her grandparents, but then put it back on her finger when she was done,” an officer wrote. The woman said she called the restaurant and asked the managers to look for her ring — but no one found it. Her 3.1 karat diamond platinum ring is worth $50,000. She said when she left the restaurant, only three tables were still occupied. Also, she said she has a full list of attendees and employees working that night

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