An Old Favorite: A quick perusal of police reports shows that the practice of car smash-and-grabs is one of the most common crimes committed in Charlotte. In a three-day period, nearly 25 people called police to report that their car windows had been smashed, and valuable items taken. Among the items listed as stolen are movie rental tapes, video games, clothes, jewelry, CDs, and school textbooks.
Cell-phone Shenanigans: Police reports also show that cell-phone theft happens with amazing frequency, and it appears the crooks are increasingly brazen. One man fell asleep on a city bus with his cell phone in his lap. When he awoke, the phone was gone. Another man reported that after realizing he had left his cell phone on the counter of a convenience store, he returned, only to find it stolen. When he called his cell phone number, a male voice answered. When the victim demanded the return of his phone, the crook on the other end refused and hung up. A woman reported having a similar conversation after she discovered her cell phone had been stolen from her gym bag. When she dialed the number, someone answered, then abruptly hung up.
Box and Run: While driving eastbound on I-485, a motorist’s car was damaged after he was unable to avoid a large cardboard box that fell from the back of a truck in front of him. The motorist was unable to get any information from the truck, which continued to drive down the road.
Future Graffiti Artist: A woman called police after she discovered that someone had spray-painted several obscene words on her car, which she had parked at her father’s house. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the daughter of the woman with the newly decorated car had had several boys over at the house while her mother and grandfather were out. The mother suspects it was during this time that the vandalism occurred; she also believes her daughter may have had something to do with it. Several neighborhood residents have volunteered to help clean up the graffiti-tagged car.
A Horse Thief Among Us: A man called police after his two Arabian horses were stolen. The victim discovered his horses were gone when, while out of town, he called his mother to check on them. She in turn informed him that that the man he had asked to pick up the horses and take care of them had come and gone. There was just one problem — he had made no such arrangements.
The Red Menace: A woman was horrified when she came home and discovered red dust coating both the inside and outside of her home. A construction company doing work at a nearby site had stirred up clouds of red dust while doing grade work, damaging her air conditioning unit and preventing her asthmatic mother from being able to venture outside or sit on their screened-in back porch. Both the police and the EPA were called in, and they deemed that the construction company had not established a big enough buffer between their work site and the neighborhood homes.
Can You Say Losers? After weeks of observing two yahoos get drunk, harass passersby and litter — all while fishing — residents of a condominium complex called police. Among the residents’ complaints were that the suspects were tossing beer cans into the complex’s pond, leaving behind food wrappers, and shouting obscenities at people who walked or drove by.
Driving While Offended: A woman was headed home on I-77 from a trip to the mountains when a car full of young males pulled alongside her. Suddenly the woman noticed the backseat passenger holding up pornographic pictures in the window. The car continued to parallel her for several miles, all the while flashing the dirty pictures. The woman finally exited the interstate, while the car full of teen porn show-offs continued on.
Driving While Offending: An altercation occurred at a stop light in south Charlotte after one motorist became annoyed at another who refused to turn down his car stereo. Apparently the spat escalated from an argument over decibels to name calling and hand gestures. Eventually both motorists exited their cars, and before it could go beyond a shoving match, police arrived and broke it up.
Blotter items are chosen from the files of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 3, 2002.
