COUNTER CURRENCY: A woman went to a post office on South Boulevard to get a $5,000 money order. She remembered she left some needed paperwork in the car and went outside to retrieve it, leaving the five Gs on the counter. The money wasn't there when she came back inside.
ENJOY THE TV: Someone ran into an electronics store, grabbed a TV box and dashed off in a vehicle with two other people. Unfortunately for them, the box advertising a 40-inch TV was only a display. It was empty.
CONSTRUCTIVE ANGER: A man needs his beauty sleep, you know? Maybe that's what one man was thinking when he came to a noisy construction site at 10:30 a.m. and threatened to shoot a worker if the construction clamor was as loud the next weekend.
COKED OUT: A man was caught at a convenience store concealing a 20-ounce Coke bottle in his pants, so a store employee called the police. That's when officers found his hydrocodone. D'oh!
PARKING VIOLATION: A woman told police that someone had punctured her rear tires and scratched the paint on her Honda Accord. The perpetrator also dumped a milkshake and chocolate on the front of the car. And, when she had the car towed for repairs, mechanics discovered that paper and bananas had been shoved in the tailpipe. The reason was left in a note: "This is for taking my parking space." There are no assigned spaces at the complex.
BATTERED WINDOW SYNDROME: A man told police that he had no idea who threw a car battery through the front window of his apartment.
BUTTING IN: A man told police that a lawnmower and bicycle had been stolen from his backyard. The perpetrator apparently had searched the man's ashtray, too, looking for long butts. Several short butts had been "meticulously" lined up on the porch.
THREAT OF THE WEEK: A woman reported she'd received threats during 21 harassing phone calls in three hours: "I hope that you, your brother and your sister have a place to hide. I'm shootin' everybody in the house." "I'm gonna shoot you." "I got my .22." "I'm gonna fuck all y'all up." "I been wantin' you for a long time."
Blotter items are chosen from the files of the Charlotte Police Department.