The Blotter March 31 2010
PONY EXPRESS: Around 4:15 a.m., an officer spotted a dark gray Ford Mustang allegedly speeding on Ga. 400. The officer said he pulled behind the Mustang and the driver went even faster — more than 90 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. The officer stopped the car and talked with the driver, a 25-year-old man. "He advised he had just left the Pink Pony strip club and was just trying to get home," the officer wrote. The man went to jail on an excessive speeding charge. Police impounded his 2008 Mustang.
GLITTER VISITOR: Early one morning, a woman reported a possible office creeper at her company on West Peachtree Street. The woman said between 7 a.m. and 7:20 a.m., she heard the door close inside her office suite. She looked up and saw a man wearing blue jeans with red glitter. She said the man wore glasses, a blue winter jacket and blue-and-white sneakers. The woman said she confronted the man, who said he was looking for a lawyer's office — so she directed him to a lawyer's office next door. The woman said nothing is missing, but she isn't sure how the guy got inside since she locked the door after entering her office at 6:50 a.m.
STUPID MOVE OF THE WEEK: Two officers saw a man allegedly loitering near West End Mall, in an area "where drugs are sold" and where both officers made numerous drug arrests in the past. According to the police report, "We observed [the man] standing next to two visible signs posted outside the mall doors stating 'No Loitering' for a long period of time."
One officer recognized the man from a previous arrest for alleged drug possession at the same location. An officer asked the man what he was doing outside the mall. The man said he was just chilling because he had nowhere to go. Also, the man "spontaneously uttered that he didn't have any drugs on him, but he does smoke marijuana," an officer wrote.
The man, 33, was on active probation. Police took him to jail on a loitering charge.
IT MIGHT GET LOUD: Early one Thursday morning, a woman called police about a possible fight in the apartment above her on Camellia Lane. An officer checked it out. "I spoke with one of the residents ... and was informed that no one was fighting, but rather a slumber party was taking place at 4 a.m. in the morning," the officer wrote. "I advised the resident [a 24-year-old man] that too much noise was coming from his apartment and he needed to quiet down for the evening." The man said he was sorry and they would keep it down.
About 30 minutes later, the woman called and said her neighbors were being loud again. The officer went to her apartment. "I could hear the above neighbors being very loud, running across the floors and banging on either the walls or an interior door," the officer noted. The woman said she's complained about the ongoing noise problem to the apartment managers but they didn't help.
The officer went upstairs again. "Upon exiting the elevator on the second floor, I could hear loud noises coming from down the hall." The officer warned the 24-year-old man that he was likely violating the noise ordinance. The man said he was sorry again and his guests started leaving the apartment.
TRAIL MIX: Around 8 a.m., two officers responded to an alleged burglary at a grocery store on Verbena Street. They found a "trail of items" in front of the store leading to the east side of the building. "In front of the business, we found an unrolled roll of receipt paper and an electrical cord connection," an officer wrote. "On the side of the building, we found the front panel to what appeared to be a cash register and a case of multicolored juice drink bottles. In the rear of the location, we found a trash can, a few trash bags and a few cans of baby formula."
The officers spotted a wooden fence behind the store. "The wooden fence had a hole in it that led to the rear of the business," an officer wrote.
According to police, another trail of items – mostly discarded boxes and wrappers – led from the store to an apartment building on Verbena Street. The last item on the trail was an empty box of chicken noodle soup.
A security tape showed three men allegedly breaking into the store. Items reported missing: a Georgia Lottery machine, two cash registers, 120 packs of cigarettes, 40 Switzer cigars, various types of ice cream (worth $300), candy (worth $200), and cans of Similac baby formula (worth $250).
FAMILY FEUD, PART 1: At the intersection of Montgomery Street and Woodbine Avenue, an officer stopped a woman and asked what her problem was. The woman "was breathing hard and crying. Her shirt was also ripped," the officer noted. The woman said she and her cousin were drinking together at a party and they got into a fight with each other.
The officer talked to the cousin. She said pretty much the same thing – they were drinking together and got into a fight. Both cousins went to jail on disorderly conduct charges. (The female cousins are 39 and 44.) No reason for the fight was given.
FAMILY FEUD, PART 2: A woman called police to her home on Hightower Road. She said her son, 24, and her grandson, 19, got into a fistfight in her front yard. Both men were still very upset, the officer noted. The son said they fought over "family issues." The grandson had a small bite mark on his right leg. The officer charged both men with disturbing the peace. The son went to jail; the grandson went to the detention center at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Items in the Blotter are taken from actual Atlanta police reports. The Blotter Diva compiles them and puts them into her own words.