Crime & Safety

Man Accused of Battery After Parking Debacle

Strange crime stories in Northeast Georgia, as reported on local Patch sites.

1. There’s got to be a better way to get your roommate to do house chores than how a couple of Johns Creek teens played it out recently. When police responded to a report of a fight at an apartment complex, they found two 19-year-old men — cousins, as a matter of fact — arguing amid suitcases, clothes and computer equipment strewn about the yard. Witnesses say one of the teens tossed the other’s belongings outside while threatening to kill him.

2. In our stupid-criminal department comes the story of an Athens woman who tried to shoplift shoes from an Oconee County Kohl’s by having two children who weren’t hers walk out the door wearing them. And that’s only the beginning. The woman also was charged with giving a false name — the same name as the children’s mother, who arrived at the store to pick up the kids. But get this: The mother wasn’t able to take the kids because she didn’t have car seats for both of them, so they were taken to the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office instead. After that, the mother was seen breaking into a car in the parking lot and stealing a car seat. She was arrested when she tried to pick up the kids. Oh yeah, one more thing. The first woman was later found to be wanted for armed robbery in San Francisco.

3. An Athens-area man broke into a house, stole a pickup truck and was killed when he lost control of the vehicle. The man kicked in the front door and tried to take a purse from the resident, who had been awaken by a barking dog. So he grabbed the keys to her 2002 Toyota Tacoma and took off. Later, the truck was found in the woods. It had struck several trees. The man died at the scene. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

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4. A Dacula-area man was charged with simple battery after grabbing a teenager by the neck during a confrontation over a parking spot. He told police he saw two young men get out of a car parked in a spot designated for “drive-thru” customers at the Hamilton Mill Road McDonald’s. So he confronted them. It escalated into an argument. The man, who was seen grabbing and shaking the teen, “said [the juvenile] was very disrespectful so he told him he would ‘break his finger and shove it up his a**,” the officer wrote in the report.

5. An Athens man shoved his former girlfriend out of her moving car after they argued about the vehicle — a 1999 Mercury Mystique. According to the police report, the woman was dragged on the pavement and later treated for “road rash” injuries. The man was chased by Watkinsville Police and later a Georgia State Patrol trooper, then was caught after trying to flee on foot. In case you’re wondering, they haven’t made Mystiques in more than a decade.

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6. At first, a Lawrenceville man thought another man was just playing when he snatched up his laptop and walked away at the Mall of Georgia. The victim told police he was sitting outside a store and using the laptop when the incident happened. The thief, described as wearing “eyeglasses like LeBron James,” got away.

7. A Loganville man who had flashing neon blue lights affixed around the license plate of his car must’ve thought it looked cool. Gwinnett County Police did not. It also alerted the cops about other violations. He was stopped and charged with driving a car with a flashing blue light. That was along with charges of DUI and driving with a suspended license.

8. A 55-year-old woman was arrested by Athens-Clarke County Police for from a store in the Georgia Square Mall. According to police, she is accused of stealing 26 beads and four rings, each valued at $45 to $60.

9. An Athens man told police “Say no more,” and then left after officers found him passed out under a park bench around 7:30 p.m. on a recent weekday evening. Around 10 p.m., police answered a call about a man sleeping on the front porch of a residence. It was the same guy. When an officer questioned him, he again answered, “Say no more.” This time he was arrested and taken to jail.

10. An argument near the basketball courts at Bogan Park in Buford led to three men being arrested after one of them brandished a handgun and pointed it at the victim. The three men, ages 18, 19 and 20, face a variety of charges.


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