One Big Mess:
A woman had been called 300 times at her home and on her cell phone by the same guy. Then the harasser said, “Wait till you get home and see your condo.” When she got home she saw that the man had entered the patio of the woman’s condominium, broken two lanterns, ripped two screens apart, and emptied the grill ashes over the patio.
Heated Discussion:
A woman called police after she and a man had an argument at her home which had resulted in her being pushed away from her washing machine and falling against a hot water heater.
Rear Ending:
A man backed into a space at a local convenience store and struck a woman in the butt with his vehicle. It was obvious that the man knew he had hit the woman, as he got out of his car, cursed at the woman, laughed at her, and then departed.
Not So Pearly Gates:
A man who may have wanted to voice a protest against the anti-democratic elitism of gated communities, or may have just been a drunken jerk, drove his car through a closed gate arm at the entrance to an apartment development. Authorities say the man then left without providing driver/owner information. Duh.
More Power To You:
Police arrested a man who was seen trying to leave a store with a stolen generator in his shopping buggy.
Monthly Checkup:
A woman discovered that the electricity meter at her house had been damaged: the door on the base of the meter had been removed and the base and meter had been tampered with. Just to be on the safe side, she called both Duke Power and the police.
Howdy Neighbor:
A man and his neighbors haven’t been getting along because of noise issues. The man has complained several times to his neighbors and their landlord about blasting out excessive noise levels all the time. The man hit his limit when came he home one morning to find that someone had written profanity with a white chalk pen on the concrete walk in front of his apartment. He also saw a large puddle of some type of liquid on the concrete in front of the unit, but left it up to the police to determine what that liquid was.
Return To Sender:
A man reported that someone tampered with, and opened, his letters and packages at his home. The man said someone he knew had previously tampered with his mail, and that he had told the person over and over again not to tamper with his mail but the tamperer kept doing it no matter what.
Hell On Wheels:
A woman was awakened when she heard a loud noise behind her home. She looked out back and saw that a man driving a van had struck the back corner of her home. The driver had no time to apologize, much less leave insurance information, as he backed the van out and fled the scene.
All In The Family:
Two brothers started arguing with each other, and the argument soon turned into an assault. One brother bit the other on the arm and then began chasing him with a baseball bat. The same brother also assaulted his mother by pushing her against a wall with his hands.
Just A Rental: A woman tried to leave a rental car business in one of their rental cars, but without authorization. The gate operator wouldn’t open the security gate, so the woman got out of the rental car, entered the booth, pushed the operator out of the way and tried to open the gate herself. She was unable to open it, however, and fled the parking lot on foot.
Blotter items are chosen from the files of the Charlotte Police Department.
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2003.
