The Blotter March 24 2010

SCREAM MACHINE: At the Midtown precinct, an officer heard a man “screaming at the top of his lungs. When I looked out of the window, I saw [the man] continuing to scream,” the officer noted. “[He] looked at me and walked across the street” to a location on Peachtree Street. The man “continued to scream after he relocated, causing a commotion and intimidating passing vehicles as well as pedestrians.” The officer walked outside, spoke with the man and noticed a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. The man reportedly said he had been drinking and was holding a half-empty 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor beer, the officer noted. The man, 61, was charged with disorderly conduct and went to jail.

YOU REALLY WANT ME: At a bonding company on Peachtree Street, a 35-year-old female employee said another woman walked in and confronted her. According to he employee, the woman accused her of telling the woman’s husband and other people that she, the employee, wanted to have sex with the woman. The employee said she doesn’t even know the woman’s husband. She said she asked the woman to leave — twice — then she called police. She said the woman threatened her by saying things are going to start “popping off” toward her.

When police arrived, they found the woman on the sidewalk, about five yards from the bonding company. After she was handcuffed, the woman reportedly tried to kick out the rear window of a patrol car and she “frequently spit in the back seat area,” an officer wrote. “She also said several times that she was ‘crazy.’”

BAD PLACE FOR A NAP: Around 9 a.m., police responded to a call about a suspicious person on Harwell Road. A woman said a man was sitting in a car in her front yard. Two officers approached the car and saw a man who appeared to be asleep. “I knocked on the window and the male woke up,” an officer wrote. “I asked him what he was doing, and he could not respond. I asked him his name and he still could not respond.”

The officer continued, “During the course of my investigation, I noticed a bullet in the vehicle, lying in the center console.” Police checked the car for weapons – none were found.

After the man was detained, an officer spotted a clear bag on the floorboard. “Based on my training, knowledge and experience, I recognized the bag as being suspected crystal methamphetamine.” The man went to jail on a drug possession charge and police towed his car. The 32-year-old man hails from Mableton.

ANGRY TOURIST? A 21-year-old woman parked her car at Underground Atlanta and went to a nightclub. Later on, around 3:30 a.m., the woman tried to drive out of the parking deck and the parking attendant said the fee was $3. The woman reportedly said she didn’t have any money and asked if she could charge the $3 to her license plate. According to the parking attendant, the woman said that’s how they do things in Ohio if you don’t have money to pay for parking. The attendant said the woman had to pay now in order to leave the parking lot. According to the attendant, the woman scrounged up some change from her car and threw it in the attendant’s face. Police charged the woman with disorderly conduct and took her to jail.

STREET HUSTLE: A woman said she parked outside a Starbucks on Peachtree Street and went inside the coffee shop. She said when she returned to her car, she found a note stating a man had found her car keys and he would return her keys for $40. According to the note, the man with her keys would be down the block, outside a business at Peachtree and 6th streets.

The woman informed a nearby police officer. “I went to the business in plain clothes and no one approached me, nor did anyone at the business know anything about any lost keys,” the officer wrote. “I observed a man sitting on the bench between 7th and 6th streets – but he did not initiate contact with me.” However, when the woman walked by, the same man reportedly stopped her and said he had her keys and if she would help him out with $40, he would help her out. The woman said she needed to go to an ATM and she walked right back to the police officer.

The officer arrested the man, retrieved the woman’s car keys and returned the keys to her. “She declined to press charges, however,” the officer noted. A computer check revealed the man is wanted in DeKalb County on a larceny charge. The officer searched the man and allegedly found three checks that belong to someone else. The man said he was arrested previously in Florida on check-related fraud involving his girlfriend. But, the man said, he did not steal these three checks. The 28-year-old man went to jail.

LOST YOUR FUNNY BONE? One Saturday night, a Decatur man went to a comedy club on Marietta Street. He reportedly got upset with the club’s manager and a security guard said he would “handle” the man and that he should step outside. The man, 24, reportedly took off his glasses and threatened to “handle” the security guard. Then, he allegedly tried to fight the guard. Police arrived and arrested the man on a disorderly conduct charge. He went to jail.

TAXING SITUATION: An Atlanta woman said she realized someone stole her identity after she didn’t get any tax return money for three years — from 2006 to 2009. “She stated she figured she owed some business but when she did not receive it for this year, she knew that there was a problem,” an officer wrote. “She said that the IRS told her that someone had two houses in Atlanta, cars and a house in New York under her name.” No suspects.

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