View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2007 > April
April 2007
Crime & Punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A man filed a Simple Assault complaint after he received a note on his car that a delivery company tried twice to deliver a package. The man said that the notice had no return address and this made him suspicious. A day or so later he was in the parking lot when a car drove up. A woman, in a delivery truck, addressed him by name and then threw a package at him. He threw it back. She threw it back again hitting in the chest. It turns out the package was from his ex-wife’s attorney. The man was told to contact the company and make a complaint on the improper delivery of the package.
Arrests A 36-year old man was arrested on a warrant for threats following an investigation. The officers went to the residence and spoke to his mother who told them that he was not there just about the time the officers saw the man run from the kitchen to the bedroom. He was taken to Fulton Jail.
A 28-year old man was arrested after officers were called to a home in the 8500 block of Hope Road regarding a man beating on a car with a stick. The man was drunk and said that he thought the car was his home and was trying to get in.
An 18-year old man was arrested for stealing two bottles of water from the Kroger at 4920 Roswell Road.
A 51-year old woman was arrested for shoplifting at the same Kroger Store after attempting to leave the store with meat that she didn’t pay for. She also admitted stealing meat from the same store days earlier.
A 29-year old man was arrested after he pulled a gun on his ex-wife following an argument in 2400 block of Harbor Pointe Pkwy. The man came to get his kids for visitation but the children’s mother would not let them go because he didn’t have car seats for them. He pulled and pointed a gun at her and then left. A responding officer found him in another area of the parking lot and arrested him.
A 30-year old man was arrested after his employer gave him his truck to go get supplies. The man never returned to the employer. Officers found the man who said his phone was broken and he could not call. He also said he drank a 40 oz. beer and passed out. While checking him the officer found that he was wanted in Cobb County on a warrant for Child Abandonment.
HEADS UP Since January there have been four landscape truck thefts. Two have happened in the last couple of weeks over near Long Island Drive. The last two appear to be by the same suspects. In ALL cases, the keys were left in the trucks. Time frames: Weekdays noon to 3 p.m. Days of occurrence were Thursdays (twice), Monday and Wednesday. Tell your landscapers about this and tell them to take the keys with them.
Entrance ramps: Not for the meek and weak
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta is a city where each day people commute from as far away as the Artic Tundra. Many spend three or more hours a day in their cars listening to music, talk radio, or blue-toothing, or like me, babbling incoherently to their selves.
This afternoon I needed to take GA 400, northbound, from Abernathy Road. To go north on 400 from my office, I take Barfield Road to Abernathy Road where I make a right turn heading east. I then pass 750 traffic lights covering a quarter-mile stretch and then pass under the 400 bridge, wave to the panhandlers, and then ease over into one of two left-turn lanes at the light. The ramp has a large feeding area that merges into one lane.
Cars traveling west on Abernathy must make a right turn onto two lanes entering 400 north. It is possible for four lanes to be merging onto the ramp going north, about the same time. Eastbound traffic moves only on a left-turn signal meaning the westbound traffic has to, or is supposed to, yield.
If you’re not from Atlanta, you may not know that common traffic terms mean different things here. For instance, the word “yield” means “sissy” and the word “merge” means “race”.
Here’s another heads up. If you are new to Atlanta traffic, don’t let the pretty soccer moms in the S.U.V.s fool you. They’re animals.
Once you hit the ramp and head into the left turn where two lanes soon become one, you either win the merge or lose it. The race is short and soon over. Some frustrated sore losers will attempt to cheat by using the emergency lane. They can only get a few hundred feet before they’re blocked by a broken-down minivan with fifteen ladders on top and five guys looking under the hood. Even on the entrance ramps, nobody likes a cheater.
As entertaining as it is, we need to remember that unlike NASCAR, we have to pay for the damages and we’re not wearing the HANS device meaning that people can get hurt real easy. Just slow down and incoherently babble, like me. Be careful.
What would happen if we turned off our screens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Roswell Parks and Recreation department came up with an interesting idea. Turn off the TV and computers for a week and see how it goes. It’s “Turn Off Your Screen Week.”
I think that it may make for an interesting week.
The average household has three televisions and watches more than eight hours of television a day. In our house, we have seven televisions but we may only watch about four hours of television a day because we can’t find the remotes to the seven televisions.
I imagine if we banned television and computers for a week, two things would immediately increase, murder and pregnancy. Black outs were famous for boosting the population. The New York City blackout in 1977 was credited for boosting the birth rate nine months later by 35 percent. What wasn’t clear was how many of those babies were ugly. It was dark, people were bored and nine months later they were saying: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
I’ll bet that if in the spring, summer, and fall, we went days, weeks, or a couple of months without TV and skipped at least recreational use of computers, people would start getting in shape by walking, running, biking or whatever. Things around the house would get done and we’d probably get to know more people. I’m sure the population would show a significant increase because all work and no play make something, uh— whatever. I just know that nature knows when to party. In the winter we’d all kill one another.
In Georgia, the winter is that time we need to just hang on until spring. Of course winter here is just late January and February with a few teaser days in March. One day in the 70s and the next glaciers form in the driveway. We don’t really like winter because it means ice. People from up north, love to poke fun at us for our silliness when we get a snowflake. It’s true. When the forecast says “possible snow” we all get all messed up and do silly things like run into the grocery store screaming for milk, bread, and Foxglove Chardonnay 2006!
Still, I think that reducing television time would be a good idea in moderation. Remove some of the non-essential time slots, say anything with Rosie O’Donnell in it or that commercial where the girl in the red dress jumps up and down holding some cash in her hand to the tune of that annoying little jingle, just before she realized she just signed her car away. There is a lot of stuff there we could do without.
A Parrothead’s travels in Texas
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HOUSTON - Welcome to Texas where they have statues of Sam Houston, Davey Crockett, and Chuck Norris. I never knew Chuck Norris was so celebrated. “Walker, Texas Ranger” was filmed not too far away and so over the years he’s become a legend. They say that he’s so tough that he doesn’t need to read books. He just stares them down until he gets the information he wants. That’s a tough guy.
Minute Maid Stadium / Saturday night
Going to see Buffett is fun. Tailgating a few hours ahead of the show is the best fun. Middle-aged guys and girls with the obligatory coconuts and plastic grass skirts look the same no matter where you are. We met a few people including A.J., from Houston, who rides a small scooter because he can’t walk too well anymore. He was decked in the traditional parrot-on-the-head hat and let us take a picture in exchange for a hamburger. His motto was that at age 78, he could still get in trouble. A.J. said he was in charge of the Mardi Gras parade in Galveston. Of course he invited all of us down as his personal guests and, of course, he would have never remembered us anyway so we absolutely agreed and off he went, never to be seen again.
Most of the crowd in the parking lot was very behaved. No fights and almost everyone’s shirts stayed on. The ones that came off should have stayed on. Beer cans and crawfish stacked up in the dumpsters. Houston PD had the horse units out working crowd and traffic control. If you’ve ever seen a horse work crowd control you know that when things get really bad, the officers back the horses up into the crowd. If you happen to be in the crowd, this is the time to put distance between you and the horse’s hoofs. They back and then kick. It’s very impressive to watch unless you’re the guy in hoof’s range. This didn’t happen beause the crowd consisted of mostly of happy suburbanites trying to relive the college days of beer and good times.
Inside Minute Maid we parked ourselves in the 30-minute line for $8 Margaritas and then sat down behind the first base dugout. The stage was set up in deep centerfield some five miles away somuch of the viewing was done on the Jumbotrons. In essence, we paid $90 a ticket to watch the Jimmy Buffett movie. No matter, Detective Sandy was on cloud nine.
Buffett concerts involved the approved use of beach balls. Throwing beach balls prior to the concerts actually involves a point system. Hit a yuppie on the head is one point. Bounce one off a yuppie’s head and onto another yuppie’s head is three points. Knock their beer out of their hands is a ten pointer. It’s sheer luck of gravity. The only incident involved me and the woman sitting behind me. It was a classic alpha male vs. alpha female fight over a beach ball. She wanted it to stay on the ground so she put her foot on it defying me to pick it up. She gave the me stare that said “try it.” Once I confirmed that she wasn’t Chuck Norris, I took this as a challange and removed her foot and threw the ball a couple of rows over, scoring no points.
What I thought was a friendly tussle over a beach ball apparently upset the alpha female who began a successive barrage of obscenities in my face. We exchanged insults ranging from gender questioning to proper celebration of Earth Day and left it with some very sharp comments about what we could each do with the beach ball. She questioned my masculinity and I questioned her social life and what she needed to do to improve it. The argument ended when the next song started and everyone did “fins to the left” which, of course, requires both hands so we bid each other farewell with our one-finger salutes and the concert went on.
My mood was dented but not changed. We packed up and headed back to the burbs all the while hearing stories from my brother about the great Chuck Norris. I didn’t know that Chuck Norris was so tough that he once slammed a revolving door.
Exercising my license to chill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Warm weather and the approaching summer mean two things.
More cases of guys exposing themselves
The long time parrotthead Sandy Rose’s annual trek to Margarettaville.
Wednesday we’ll be tailgating at Philips Arena. Philips is not as good as the parking lot at Hi-Fi Buys parking lot with the exception of last year’s monsoon just before the concert. That was ugly. Hundreds of parrotthead items floated down the street to Metropolitan Avenue. The next night the hookers were wearing foam lime hats and grass skirts.
Tailgating at Philips isn’t quite as much fun. Something about being right smack in the city takes away from the Caribbean flavor. Maybe it’s homeless guys freaking out after wandering into the extreme tailgating areas full of drunken middle management types with hula skirts and coconut bras. Most likely it’s the lack of a lawn. You can’t beat the lawn show during Buffett.
We’re going to Houston today. Buffett plays there on Saturday. My brother, one of the nation’s great humorists, lives there with his family and various animals. He called and said he had a couple of extra tickets. I mentioned it to my wife who gave me a look of “I can kill you in your sleep if I want,” and said “Make it happen, now.”
Wanting only to live, I made the necessary arrangements under duress.
This will give me a chance to eat my brother’s food, drink his beer, and maybe tap into his sick mind.
This will also give me a chance to see my TSA friends at the airport while I am thoroughly checked after my titanium knee sets off buzzers, sirens, and red lights at the screening booth. What the hell, it’s all R and R.
I’m hoping that one day Sandy will get her photo op with Jimmy Buffett. I say this because she is a good person and a great fan. My credit card reflects this. The other reason is that what she keeps talking about as a quest is starting to look to me like stalking. I’ve got enough trouble.
Prom season advice for parents
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those of you with prom candidates, it’s time for that little talk about drinking. Don’t forget that even though your intent is to keep them off the street, getting them a room and ALLOWING drinking is against the law and putting you in a serious liability category. One of Newton’s earliest theories was that you cannot contain drunk teenagers so even if you got them a room, they will, sooner or later wander.
Parents putting coolers in the limo andor giving the driver a few bucks to make a beer stop is a no-no. Your stance should be No Tolerance. No doubt that some of them will find a way however you would be surprised at how many parents give the okay to drink, thinking that if you take away the keys, you eliminate the possibility of disaster. I know there will be a bunch of sneaking around but don’t sign off on allowing alcohol.
TRAFFIC FATALITY
We had a traffic fatality this weekend. Early on Saturday morning a car, driven by two young girls, ages 21 and 23, lost control and hit a brick sign and then a tree on Dunwoody Place near Roberts Drive. Neither occupant had a seat belt on.
DRIVE BY THEFTS This is from a woman who was at the Starbucks on West Paces Ferry. this week at 7:15 p.m.: My 9 year old son and I were sitting outside the Starbucks. My purse was on the sidewalk by my feet. A blond, white female - mid to late 20s - jogged by, leaned over and snatched my purse. Having had a difficult day already, I was just mad enough to take off after her screaming like a banshee for someone to stop her. I had several men that were about to intercept her, coming from the Chevron at the corner, but a dark colored Honda pulled up, driven by a black male, and she jumped in. The license plate on the Honda was stolen off an Altima so this was clearly premeditated. Furthermore, upon reflection, I believe there was a third “look out” involved, an older blonde female driving an old Mercedes parked in front of the Starbucks.”
Good example that crooks plan things out so remember that everything is RISK vs OPPORTUNITY. Just remove the opportunity. Put your purse down between your feet or leave it in the trunk or sit it in the chair with you or strap it somewhere. The best piece of crime prevention here is just knowing that this can happen.
GYPSIES
We’ve been getting some information from some of the Gypsy community members regarding some scams in the area. Although the initial information is vague, it addresses the activity that includes roofing scams, asphalt and car-body work scams, and fortune telling rip-offs. Most of the information deals with seniors. Another popular approach is the “Sugar-Daddy” scam where an elderly man is befriended by a woman who then coerces him to begin buying for her. I think this last one is more global than restricted to the gypsy community.
VOLUNTEERS
We are going to kick off a program using civilian volunteers. You may or may not know that we have a horrendous false-alarm problem in Sandy Springs. We average between 600-800 false alarms each month. Multiply that by 30-minutes average for each call and you get some serious wasted time that could be better applied in patrol time. We plan to use volunteers to gather and maintain data on these alarms and then expand the functions to include proactive projects to lower and keep the numbers of false alarms as low as possible. Volunteers will have an office at police headquarters. We will conduct background checks on all applicants so please don’t apply only to have us unleash some skeletons in your closet!
Although we haven’t set any timelines yet, we are looking at 15-20 hours of volunteer time each month.
If you are interested, e-mail me at steve.rose@sandyspringsga.org.
FEEDBACK Got something you want to send out or say? Send it to me at steve.rose@sandyspringsga.org
I received a couple of e-mails regarding scams and so forth having to do with consumer products. Here’s the state office to contact for CONSUMER PROTECTION:
Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive Suite 356 Atlanta, GA 30334 404-656-3790 404-651-9018 FAX 800-869-1123 (toll free) www.2.state.ga.us/gaoca
Most days we dodge the bullet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those of you who get high on life yesterday was your day to sober up.
Most officers who have a tactical training background will tell you that one person, alone, with the right weaponry and mindset, meaning not afraid to die, could cause devastation beyond what we could possibly imagine. Most will tell you that a day like Monday was very likely to happen sooner or later.
I think that it would probably floor most people to realize how many close calls there are on any given day in cities across the country. There have been so many times that officers have answered calls where someone had a gun and threatened to kill a spouse or employer, or even someone they never met.
We got a call last week from an employer who, after dismissing an employee, got a call from the man. The man apologize to him for what was about to happen and then hung up. Fortunately, he didn’t carry out the threat. But people do carry out threats quite often. Most of these threats are minor but how do you know when someone crosses that line? It happened here when Mark Barton killed nine people in Buckhead in 1999.
The world can be a crazy place. Some believe that the world is on such a fast pace that we’re now racking up casualties as a result. I don’t know but maybe this would be a good weekend to leave the laptop at home, drive up to the mountains, and make what you order on the menu you’re most difficult decision of the weekend.
Crime & punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pay attention to this one. It’s an old scam that visits us from time to time.
A woman said that while she was at Trader Joe’s, she was approached by two females. One had a locked box and said that she found it in the parking lot. She said that she thought the box belonged to an Asian male in a car, in the parking lot. The woman said that she tried to give the Asian man the box but he drove off. The victim said a second woman walked up and said that she worked down the street and she would ask her boss, at the Marshall’s Department Store, what to do. The first suspect left to go to the store. The second suspect rode with the victim, to the store. The victim was told by one of the women that the money was stolen by Asian bad guys and was legit. They told her to come inside the store in ten minutes and he would explain. The two women then walked away, saying they were going to the bank. The victim then realized that $4,000 in cash was missing from her purse.
This is a variation of a pigeon-drop or found-money scam. How did the women know this victim had that much cash? Sounds like they targeted her possibly from some sort of prior information. Mark this in your brain. If anyone comes up and tells you that they found money and they don’t know what to do, and want your help, know that this is probably the beginning of a scam. Guard your stuff. The victim in this case is 67 years old.
Arrests
A 19-year old woman was arrested for Aggravated Assault following a traffic altercation on Roswell Road. According to the victim and passenger, the suspect cut her off on the roadway and was driving in an erratic manner. The victim pulled into an apartment complex, behind the suspect, to get her tag. The suspect came out, threw rocks at the victim’s car and then pulled a knife and started slashing at the car. The victim backed out and later called police.
Don’t get yourself in a bad spot even if what you’re doing is right. That girl could have come out with a gun.
A 48-year old man was arrested after officers found him in the bushes at his ex-girlfriend’s apartment. She had called the police for an escort because she feared the man was there. Officers briefly saw him in the bushes but he fled. One of the officers got his cell number from the victim and called it. The man answered. He was arrested a minute or so later. He had several outstanding warrants on him including False Imprisonment (Domestic Violence) and Battery, also domestic.
A patrol officer stopped a 15-year old juvenile whom he knew had run away form home. He was charged with Carrying a Concealed Weapon and Carrying a Weapon in a School Safety Zone. The guns were BB guns but, that is a no-no.
An officer reported that he checked a man who was loitering in an area known for drug activity. The man was intoxicated and a bit belligerent. The man told the officer that he could search him so the officer did and found a pot pipe. The man then got really uncooperative, most likely over the embarrassment of telling the officer to search him and only then remembering he stashed his pipe in his pocket—I’m guessing. Anyway the guy got really ugly and then he was arrested.
A pet store employee was arrested for embezzling money, totaling just over $1000, from the store in the 5900 block of Roswell Road in the form of faking return vouchers.
A 21-year old homeless man was arrested at the Target on Johnson Ferry Road after he stuffed a car stereo down his pants and tried to leave the store.
Burglary
Someone forced entry into a kitchen door and took a dining table and assorted crystal items. The thieves tried to take an antique chest but broke it while moving it. The theft on Windsor Pkwy. occurred while the victim was out of town.
Someone forced entry through an apartment front door and took cash, jewelry, DVD’s and crystal.
A man said that after he invited several friends to his home, his laptop was stolen.
A woman reported that someone took a purse with cash and credit cards inside. She suspects the chimney sweeps.
The victim said that before she left town, she notified the U.S. Post Office to stop the mail. Apparently they did not and continued to deliver. The victim said that some of her mail was opened. When leaving town, arrange for a neighbor to pick up the mail
Theft
A 75-year old woman said that on the 12th, while she was shopping at a grocery store, she was approached by a female who asked her help with information on a strawberry preservative. She said the woman spent about 20 minutes with her. Later, the victim found that her wallet was missing from her purse. The victim did not have any credit cards but did lose her driver’s license in the theft. (This is a re-occurring theft that targets seniors shopping in grocery stores. The two locations they most often hit are Kroger stores at 4920 Roswell Road and 227 Sandy Springs Place at City Walk.
A woman said that she was showing property to a man who was interested in purchasing it. During that time, he expressed interest in a car she owned. She and the man agreed on the sale of the car. She had to leave town. When she returned, the car was gone. She contacted the man who told her that he had the car and would bring her a check for $7,995. He did give her a check which, she found out, was worthless because it was drawn on a closed account. The man was again contacted and tells her he’ll bring the money but so far he has not.
A man said that he allowed a contractor to use a ladder and some tools while working on his home. The contractor took the tools with him after the job was finished. The contractor was called by the victim and said that he would return the items but did not. The report said the contractor’s name is Charles Sherrell, age 35, who lives on Shirley Street in SW Atlanta. I don’t think I’d hire this guy right now.
Assault A woman said that her boss pushed her forehead with his finger, causing her to back into some boxes, during an argument. He was later charged with Simple Battery.
Gambling on an appreciation of satire
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just when they thought they were the 17th safest city in the nation, the citizens of Roswell, known for trendy and cute subdivision names as well as bow ties and brick, were shocked to learn 27 people were arrested and charged with various gambling violations following a six-month long investigation into complaints that “gambling nights” were being conducted inside their city limits.
A police spokesperson, said they were tipped off by a number of people who complained of unusual activity in the fashionable and safe community. Such activity including large numbers of cars parked along the roadway, trolleys and shuttle buses operating, late-night deliveries from “Poker Chips R Us” and a nightly midnight quarter-mile horse races around the fashionable neighborhood block.
Detectives said this was the first time they had ever seen a gambling operation this sophisticated although three years ago, several seniors from the Chattahoochee Elders Club were charged in a Chutes-and-Ladders-for-profit racket.
The six-month investigation netted persons from as far away as Savannah, and Macon. The two men from Macon said they really weren’t interested in the gambling but had tickets to see Celine Dion, who was scheduled to appear in the backyard gazebo on Saturday.
The guy from Savannah said he thought he was at a bridge convention and had come to meet Omar Sharif.
When officers entered the fashionable Roswell home, decorated in a Victorian motif, with a very smart Exquisite Angelic Innocence Sculpture, they immediately noticed a bar setup including an attractive Serving Cart from the Carved Furniture Collection that demonstrates true pride in fine craftsmanship and attention to detail.
Several women were serving drinks to a number of gambling tables and members of Cirque Du Soleil were doing back flips in the kitchen.
Lawyers for several of the defendants insist their clients did not attend the residence to gamble but instead were signed up for the third shift “Tour of Homes.”
The question now becomes whether or not Parma, Ohio, ranked 18th safest city in the nation, will have a shot at moving up. A spokesman for the Parma said: “We can’t worry about what they’re doing. We have to take things day by day and keep our cops focused on our game. It’s a team effort here in Parma and it’s a long season until the next Morgan Quitno Awards. Anything can happen. We’re just trying to keep our staff healthy and on the streets putting up those good numbers day to day.”
A neighbor, speaking from her slightly opened windowed door of colored glass first used in the houses and villas of wealthy Romans and in the palaces of the emperors in the first century, told reporters “It’s not a door, it’s an entryway!” She then closed the entryway but soon reopened it, for effect. She said that she thought it was odd when the owners of the house spent the winter remodeling the home. The end result looked strikingly like the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. One officer admitted “The tiny water show in the bidet was awesome.”
Crime & Punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A man left his wallet on top of the gas pumps at Dalrymple and Roswell roads, and when he returned three hours later, the wallet was gone. Subsequently, there were a number of attempts to apply for a credit card in the name of the victim.
Someone used the victim’s name and personal information to open up an account and have checks printed. Two were cashed at a Publix in Atlanta.
Someone accessed the victim’s debit card number and used it for the amount of $1,062.
Someone accessed the victim’s online bank account number and wrote several checks on it. Checks were written to Burlington Superstores for $266 and Wal-Mart for $313. Several other checks were also written to Macy’s, T.J. Max, Marshall’s and City Sports.
Theft Someone took two paintings, valued at $500 each, from the Abernathy Arts Center.
Chrome wheels and tires valued at $10,000 were stolen from a car in the 1300 block of Hampton Drive.
A couple, who hired a secretary, said that following her resignation from their employment, several checks were missing from various accounts. One check was made out to the husband of the former secretary.
A tanning business on Mt. Vernon Hwy. reported that they suspected and then confronted a juvenile about several thefts of money from customers’ purses. He denied it and then quit.
Someone took the victim’s Nokia watch while he was a patient in the ICU department of a hospital.
That old line On several occasions, a man, in his 40’s, has approached two sisters and has asked them if they were interested in modeling. The complainant said the same man has approached them on Roswell Road, near Perimeter Mall, and near Phipps Plaza. They got the tag number.
Arrests A 34-year old male was arrested after an officer saw him leaving a Kroger store with a large red duffle bag. The officer said the man’s actions made it appear the bag was heavy. He stopped the man and asked him what he had in the bag and if he paid for it. The man said he didn’t pay for the food but had a ‘hook up’ at the store. The bag contained five boxes of frozen King Crab legs, five packs of ribeye steaks, and five packs of strip steaks. The officer stopped and questioned the suspect as he got into a car driven by another man who said he had no knowledge of this other guy’s actions. The driver was checked and showed that he was wanted for three counts of Failure to Appear. He was also arrested.
A 19-year old man was arrested for Burglary and Aggravated Assault after officers found him in an apartment complex on Cimarron Parkway following an attempted burglary. The suspect, who also lives in the complex, also cut the victim with a knife. The two knew each other. The suspect was let in the house by the small son of the victim. The suspect came into the apartment because he was mad about something the victim said about him earlier.
A 26-year old man was arrested after officers stopped the car he was driving for reckless driving inside an crowded apartment complex. The man got out of the car after being stopped and tried to walk off. The officers questioned the man who told them that he was not the owner of the car and, therefore, not responsible for any contents in the car. This is like saying “Arrest me because there is bad stuff in this car!” He was later arrested for VGCSA-Trafficking Cocaine, Possession of Crack Cocaine With Intent to Distribute (WID) and Possession of MDMA (Ecstasy) WID. Officers found over $5,900 in cash on him.
Two men were arrested after officers received a fight call around 1:30 a.m. at an apartment in the 5600 block of Roswell Road. A man answered the door and when asked about all the noise that had been reported said he didn’t know anything about it. The man later said that there was another man in the apartment. Turned out the other man was hiding. In the meantime, officers found marijuana. They continued looking for the other man because it was thought that someone had a gun. The other man finally came out of the laundry room with his hands up. The officers questioned him about the marijuana they were finding all over the house. The man said he didn’t know anything about marijuana and didn’t smoke it. This was right before the officer removed some marijuana from the man’s shirt pocket. The man said “Oh sh—I forgot about that.” One of the men appeared to have been shot in the leg. His story was that as he was exiting his apartment, a man, wearing a ski mask pulled a gun on him and forced him back inside. He tied the “victim” up with duct tape but was interrupted when someone knocked on the door. According to the “victim,” the bad guy laid the gun on the floor next to him and walked over to the door and looked through the peep-hole. The “victim” grabbed the gun and he and the bad guy wrestled over it until the gun went off twice — once into the apartment and once into his leg. The man was treated and arrested as was the other man. Several ounces of pot were seized.
A 23-year old man was arrested for threatening to cut his mother’s throat.
Three people were arrested after a police sergeant, driving on I-285, spotted two men jacking up a car on the side of the road. He stopped and talked with the two men who told him that the owner wanted them to fix the flat. They told him they were from a car-collision shop in Ellenwood, Ga., and had been asked by the man to fix the flat. The two men did not have I.D. They were in a rented Ford F-150. A female was in the truck. The officer, upon checking with the owner of the car, found that the owner didn’t know these guys and had not made a call to fix the tire. The officer found out one subject had given a false name. They began to investigate the men and woman and ended up arrested them for stealing catalytic converters from cars along the interstate. They recovered 9 of them as well as 80 hits of Ecstasy. Several other victims have been found. Their cars had broken down on I-285.
The reason the catalytic converters are a popular item to steal is that they have platinum in them. Like copper, it’s getting really expensive. Any time something spikes in price you can bet people will start stealing it. In this case, the men had a reciprocating saw that ran on batteries. The batteries were charged by a charger plugged into an inverter from the car battery. They would jack the cars up with a hydraulic jack and place jack-stands under it, crawl under and saw the converters off.
SPECIAL OLYMPICS On Saturday, members of the Sandy Springs Police will have a table set up at the Publix Shopping Center at Holcomb Bridge Road and Spalding Drive to sell T-shirts and hats. All of the funds go to the Special Olympics. If you’re in the area, drop by and spend a couple of bucks on a good cause.
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The real story of my metaphysical trip
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Recently during lunch, I read a local paper dedicated to holistic health, personal growth, and spiritual paths. I think the older I get, the more interest I see in things that I would normally have no interest in. That doesn’t really make sense but what I mean is that sometimes I take a longer look at things just because.
The gist of this paper had a lot to do with things like mystic journeys. The last time I took a mystic journey was at a Humble Pie concert in San Diego around 1972. I was standing at the edge of the stage, back when you could still do that, enjoying the music and listening to my eardrums crack.
For some reason, right in the middle of a song, the guitar player looked down and then spit on me. Just looked right at me and spit! Did he think I came there to get spat on? Obviously I was offended and felt that I needed to discuss with him, his lack of courtesy.
I thought this would be a good time to crawl up on the stage and discuss it. About two steps into my discussion I was intercepted by a large semi-human with a long ragged ponytail, a starter-beard, and horrible body odor. He was wearing a black t-shirt that read “security.”
He placed me in one of those nose-to-armpit headlocks and we began our mystic journey to the back stage door. On the way he gave me a few punches to the ribs in response to my request that in his line of work he may need to put more stock in the use of deodorant.
He was kind enough to tell me that I was lucky I wasn’t going to jail as he threw me, literally, out the back loading dock area. The cops working the back door seemed disinterested in me, simply pointing to the parking lot saying “Go now.”
As I was saying, I gazed through this paper and read about things that have to do with metaphysical stuff. Metaphysical energy, Metaphysical workshops and other things involving the word “metaphysical”. That reminded me that I was due for my annual metaphysical in May. That sounded funnier late last night when I wrote it.
I read a short article having to do with the question: Is your home making you sick? The author was an energy consultant. The possible contributing factors, in the form of questions, were:
Does your family have chronic health problems?
Do you have trouble concentrating and suffer memory loss?
Are there arguments and fears?
Restless sleep, insomnia and nightmares?
Unexplained sounds, smells, or lights?
I have some of those symptoms but most can be explained otherwise. We all have problems concentrating.
I conducted an experiment and found that I had trouble concentrating and suffered some memory loss while away from the home. I just couldn’t remember where I was when I suffered it.
I fit number three as well. I have arguments and fears. Three words: I have kids!
The last one was easy. The unexplained sounds and smells are because the dogs like to sleep in our room. One dog is 80 pounds and when a dog like that has one of those gastric episodes at night the smoke alarms go off and the oxygen masks drop from the ceiling fans. Those dogs produce things that could easily cover all of those symptoms. I couldn’t explain the lights though. I’ll ask the voices who speak to me about that one.
I have to say that all of this information is, at least in my opinion, all good stuff that is designed to make you better in whatever way you need to be better.
I like the idea they propose. We are definitely a stressed-out species.
As I read further into this paper, I found an article on becoming grounded. Getting grounded is sort of creating a level of comfort within, sort of finding a good mental baseline and working from it. There are ups and downs in your life but you always have that foundation and it’s naturally acquired, not chemically. I did a little grounding exercise to see how it worked.
The instructions said to take ten minutes, sit quietly in a chair, with both feet flat on the floor. Rest your hands with palms up in your lap. Relax your shoulders and your jaw. Imagine you are sitting where you are. Imagine there is a cord plugged into the center of the earth and the other end plugged into the base of your spine.
Here’s the goal.
The cord is the grounding cord. Imagine all that bad stuff, bad energy, inside your mind such as fear, business problems, insecurities, that stupid designated hitter rule in the American League, and other bad things going on with you, running down the base of your spine and into that grounding cord that leads to the center of the earth and thus creating room in your body for good energy such as your humor, enthusiasm, creativity, and occasionally re-runs of Family Guy cartoons.
It sounded like a positive experience so I tried it.
I had problems.
I sat.
After two minutes I had to go to the bathroom.
I came back with seven minutes left.
I relaxed my shoulders and jaw.
I fell asleep and drooled all over my “I’m with Stupid” shirt with the arrow pointing down.
While I slept, I had a nightmare that someone had tied me to a rope and was pulling me down a large hole into hell!
I was screaming for help. Nobody heard me except Ron Blomberg, the first designated hitter in baseball, who, while wearing a Yankees uniform, was hitting my hands with a baseball bat yelling “Quit trying to screw up my legacy!!” (By the way, the first two times he swung he missed.) As I fell into the hole I saw Humble Pie singing “Thirty Days in the Hole!”
When I woke up I was holding a USB cord in one hand and a jar of pickles in the other. The dogs were looking at me with that look on their face like “We won’t say anything this time but we did noticed some leftover pork chops in the fridge…”
My metaphysical trip ended with me on the back deck watching darkness approach with my friend Jack, a cigar, and two smelly dogs chewing on pork-chop bones.
Maybe grounding is in the eyes of the beholder.
What does it all mean?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DOC Disorderly Conduct
UI Under the Influence
PD Public Drunk
VGCSA Violation of the Georgia Controlled Substance Act (drugs)
Battery Assault (physically strike)
DV Domestic Violence
FTA Failure to Appear (warrant) previous court case
Obstruction Most of the time obstruction has to do with someone interfering with the officer’s actions on a call or traffic-stop. Most often it’s applied to a guy who has just enough to drink and gets a case of the SLS, or Street Lawyer Syndrome and starts telling the officer that he or she can’t do this and can’t do that. FYI: That is most certainly a guaranteed trip to the lockup.
Robbery
A woman flagged down an officer on Northwood Drive and told him that she had just been robbed at gunpoint. As she was talking to the officer, she saw the suspect and car and pointed it out. The officer followed the car until he found it abandoned. The officers, with the assistance of a K-9, tried but could not follow the trail of the suspect. The last known area was in the Sierra Creek Apartments. The car was impounded and the investigation continues. The car is a 196 Lincoln Continental 4-door and black in color.
Theft Someone took about $15,000 in cash from a business in the 8500 block of Roswell Road. There is a current dispute between the former and new owner of the business. I’m sure this didn’t help things.
A woman reported that someone took her wallet from her purse while it was left unattended at a coffee shop in the 6100 block of Roswell Road. A check was taken and later cashed for $800.
The victim was putting her groceries in her car in the 2900 block of Dunwoody Club Drive when a woman ran up and grabbed her purse. (The purse was still in the shopping cart while she was putting the groceries away) The woman ran a short distance before getting into a blue car driven by a man. The victim did get the tag number of the car, a 2001 Honda Accord, and the suspects are on store video.
Fraud
A woman reported that her soon-to-be-ex-husband tried to establish a $3,000 amount of credit in her name.
A woman, shopping in a store in the 200 block of Johnson Ferry Road, was approached by a man who told her that he was shopping for his grandmother and said his grandmother was this woman’s size. He asked her if she would help him look through the clothing racks which she did. When she turned back around, the man was gone and so was her wallet. The victim said she cancelled her cards very quickly but already the thief used the card at the next-door department store for $600, a food store for $200, clothing store for $200, and an office-supply store for $900.
Arrests A 42-year old man was arrested after an officer, patrolling an extended stay hotel in the 900 block of Crestline Parkway where he has located stolen cars before, ran the tag on a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. The tag and truck came back as stolen from Roswell. The officer contacted Roswell PD and they confirmed the status as stolen. The officer asked if there was any suspect information. They did and gave the name of the suspect. The officer went to the hotel desk and asked if that person, named by Roswell PD as a suspect, was registered. He was. The officer asked if he registered a car or truck. Turned out the man had put the stolen pickup truck on the hotel registration sheet. (Thank you very much.) The officer went to the man’s room and the man told the officer who he was and so he was arrested. The man also had a plastic bag with suspected crack cocaine. The man was also wanted for three warrants for forgery, parole violation, and probation violation. He was arrested and transferred to Roswell Police. The man had a couple of flashlights in the room so they are looking at any evidence that might connect him to some area thefts from autos.
The clerk at the Citgo, on Dunwoody Place just off Roswell Road, was charged after he sold beer to a female who was under the age of 21. Earlier, the officer saw two females asking for money in the parking lot of the Citgo. The officer also found one of the girls holding a bottle of Colt 45 Malt Liquor. He asked her for her I.D. and learned that she didn’t have any nor was she at least 21 years old. She told the officer that the clerk knows her and he sold her the beer. He was charged and will appear in court on May 16th. The girl was turned over to her mother and the other was sent away after being told not to solicit money anymore.
Officers arrested a 23-year old man for DOC-UI after they got a call about a man acting crazy and harassing residentsin the 6800 block of Roswell road. They found the man screaming. The officers got the man cuffed but while they were trying to get him to the car, he fell and appeared to be in a state of seizure. He came out of it and started screaming. The officers noted the man was lying on the ground biting rocks. The man continued to thrash around, kicking the officers and EMS personnel. The man later told officers he was drinking and doing cocaine.
A 31-year old man was arrested in the 8100 block of Colquitt road for Disorderly Conduct after he approached another man and said “Why are you telling everyone I’m a dope-dealer?” and then punched the man in the jaw. The victim, a recovering addict, said he used to buy drugs from the defendant which, I guess, answers the defendant’s question.
28 A 49-year old man was charged with Disorderly Conduct (public drunk) after police and EMS were called to a person lying in the parking lot, unconscious in the 5800 block of Roswell Road. The man was found to be intoxicated. His condition was so that he couldn’t walk. He was taken in because he is homeless and there was family to contact. Sometimes the officers will make the PD case because the subject is so drunk that they present a danger to themselves and/or others.
A 52-year old man was arrested for Public Indecency in the 8800 block of Roswell Road after an officer observed him having TSM (That Special Moment), otherwise known as Happy-Time, or Hanging out with Little Elvis, with himself while looking at a magazine, in his car, in a shopping center, around 1:15 p.m. The officer said he had to announce his presence due to the man’s focus on his task. Timing and location were his two mistakes. At least he had enough sense to stop the car first.
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