View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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Friday, August 29, 2008
Crime & punishment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some reports filed recently with Sandy Springs Police:
That’s what 911 is for…
A woman who lives on Northland Drive was backing her car down the driveway when she saw a man standing there. She asked him what he was doing. He said he was walking up her driveway to “stretch his legs.” She told him to leave her property and then she went to the store.
Later, on the way home, she saw the same man walking on Windsor Parkway. When she got home she noticed her back carport door was unlocked.
She found a jewelry box sitting on a chair in the living room. The box, previously left on the bedroom dresser, was empty of the jewelry. The victim in this case is an 86-year old woman and this is a sad story because the man in the driveway giving such a lame excuse “stretching my legs” would surely cause the victim to stay home and call the police, which would have at least kept the burglary from happening.
Well, just like my daughter once said “Sometimes even the blind squirrel finds his nuts,” and just like on Adam-12, another officer, checking the area after the lookout was given, spotted a man walking along the road. The man fit the lookout so the officer stopped him and questioned the man. Turns out the man had her jewelry in his pocket and after he and the jewelry were identified by the woman, the 41-year-old man was arrested for burglary.
Robbery
Two men recently stopped to use an ATM machine at a Wachovia bank on Roswell Road around 10 p.m. As the driver placed his ATM card in the machine, two men in gray hoodies approached from each side of the window and pulled weapons. They ordered the driver to withdraw money from the ATM but he said he did not have any funds. They took the two victim’s wallets, cell phones and a check made to one of the victims. Both victims received injuries to the face from being struck with the guns. This is a good example of why you do NOT need to conduct ATM transactions after dark, folks.
Thefts A woman reported that someone entered her office on Roswell Road and took her wallet. She had about $43 cash and credit cards. The card was later used at Macy’s for $78, $313, and $375, and then later at an Apple Store for over $300.
A man on Roberts Landing Cove said someone stole his $200 trash can.
A woman reported she spilled her drink on the floor at the Kroger located at 4920 Roswell Road. She placed her wallet on the counter as she leaned down to clean the drink. She walked away for a few moments and when she returned the wallet and credit cards were gone. A credit card was later used for just under $500 at some unknown location. This is also a great example of how thefts never happen as you imagine or see on TV. It always happens much FASTER than you expect. In public places, don’t leave your valuable unattended even for seconds. Keep them in your pockets or on you.
More shopping disasters: A woman reported that while she was shopping at Publix, someone took her wallet from her purse located in the “steal me” position in the shopping cart.
A woman in the 200 block of Garden Court said someone stole her mail and then later had a new Citi-Bank credit card made. Two purchases for just under $7,000 were later made on the card. Later still, she found that a $5,000 purchase was made at Best Buy and another $9,600 charge was made to a contractor.
A woman on North Devereux reported someone stolen her mail and checks used to pay bills. Two checks were later forged and written for just over $1,800.
Lesson learned: DO NOT put checks in your mailbox to be picked up by the postal service. Drop them off at a USPS secured mailbox.
Burglary
Someone broke into a vacant home on Windsor Parkway and took a stove from the house.
5700 blk of Northside Drive 30327 8/26 The homeowner in the 5700 block of Northside Drive reported that a number of items have been taken from her home during a time when she was having extensive renovations done. She said there were many workers unsupervised who could have had access.
Arrests
A patrol officer noted a tag on a car that appeared to be expired. He ran the tag and it came back expired. The driver pulled into the Chevron Station in the 5300 block of Roswell Road, got out of the car and then ran off. The officer placed the man’s lookout on the radio. When he checked the car, he found I.D. that matched what the man looked like. The officer ran the license and it showed the man was wanted in Fulton County for Failure to Appear. Meanwhile, another officer located the driver and took him into custody. He was later taken to Fulton County Jail.
Around 2:30 a.m. an officer, responding to an alarm on Northridge Road, found a car with a driver inside. The driver appeared to be asleep. The officer knocked on the window several times to wake the driver. When the driver woke, he saw the officer and attempted to start the car. In the process, the driver activated the windshield wipers, hood release, horn, radio, trunk, and just about everything else but the ignition. Giving up, he finally opened the door which omitted a strong odor of alcohol. He was arrested for Public Intoxication.
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Wearing a helmet can save a life - yours!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It has been 34 years since I was on a motorcycle. I was working for a bread company after getting out of the military and I bought the bike and used it for the three-mile ride to work each morning. Early one morning, and when I say early I mean 4:30 a.m., and if you deliver bread you’re feeling me.
I came around the corner over near Pleasantdale Road and lost control of the bike in the curve and down I went. I had a busted collarbone but that was all. I got the bike fixed and then sold it. I really liked the bike but I had a feeling that it wasn’t for me.
Back on August 7th, Sammy “The Worm” was responding to a help call put out by one of our detectives who had stumbled onto a bad guy. Sammy was on a Harley going north in the 6500 block of Roswell Road. He was running blue lights and siren but right as he passed the Sandy Springs Toyota, a car pulled out and Sammy hit it. He saw it coming and was in the process of trying to slow the bike. He said later that he knew he was going to hit but thought he could at least slow it down some before impact.
Sammy hit the car and then traveled the next 25 feet in the air, landing on the pavement.
From the very beginning, the radio traffic sounded bad. A passerby got on Sammy’s radio and told the 911 center that he was hurt bad.
This was not good.
When I got there, the scene was crowded, full of police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and now a crowd of people. Roswell Road was sealed off. As much as I hated to, I walked over and looked over the shoulder of the EMS personnel who were working on Sammy. He was so messed up I didn’t recognize him.
His arm was opened up, his leg was a mess, and his face was so contorted with pain that he looked like a completely different person.
Minutes later, the whole chaotic scene moved to Grady Hospital. When everyone arrived, I still didn’t know if Sammy was going to live or not. He looked that bad. After a few minutes my patience ran out and I pulled one of the paramedics aside and asked him if the Worm was going to die. He told me he was all messed up but he would live.
Sammy’s injuries included the following broken bones, in alphabetical order: Ankle, elbow, femur (compound-how bad? Read the next paragraph.) Hip, pelvis, shoulder, tibia, and all ten toes. He broke pretty much everything on his right side.
When Sammy hit the ground, he said his first thought was of how hot the pavement was. He then realized the bottom of his boot was resting under his chin. The boot had not come off his foot and leg. His leg had broken and completely folded up next to his shoulder.
Finally I’m coming to the point. The fact that Sammy could realize how bad he was hurt meant that his brain was still working. He had no head injury with the exception of a concussion. Luckily he had no soft-tissue internal injuries either. He was lucky and he was wearing a helmet.
The first thing Sammy did before his 25 foot dive onto the pavement was to bounce off of the car. His head hit the windshield and then hit the pavement. Later, I went to his sergeant’s office and looked at Sammy’s helmet. Motorcycle helmets are made of tough fiberglass stuff and then coated with some more tough stuff. The right side of Sammy’s helmet was scraped clean of any color or coating. The fiberglass strands were showing. Without the helmet, we would have buried him days later.
I know that some folks who ride don’t like helmets or want to wear them but your head can’t take a hard lick. In fact, you’d be surprised to see how little it takes to make a normal person either dead or sitting in a wheelchair, drooling on his feet for the rest of his life.
Folks, if you ride a bike, you need to wear a helmet. That is the beginning, middle, and end of it all. Severe head injuries or death don’t come with the do-over option.
