I lost my car

A German man came to Mount Pleasant to visit his son recently and decided to go out for a drive. He went into various subdivisions along Rifle Range Road to look at the homes and the landscape.

However his rental car ran out of gas in one of the subdivisions. He was trying to push the car out of the roadway when a concerned citizen stopped to help. The person offered him a ride home and he accepted it and went back to his son's house. Unfortunately he did not get the citizen's name or the name of the neighborhood in which he left the car. He didn't know what to do at that point so he called the police. They drove around and looked for the car and so did the man but the officer was never able to find the bright yellow rental car.

Hispanic food

A woman leaving the parking lot of a local Mexican restaurant got her car crunched in when a man driving a big old truck reversed into her.

At first the driver did not stop but then he decided to pull into a parking spot. She called police and pointed the responding officer to a man sitting on the curb behind a bush.

The man told the officer he stopped short in the parking lot and the other vehicle hit him. The officer asked him what he was doing and he said, "We're here to get Hispanic food because she's Hispanic," and he pointed to his girlfriend.

He reeked of beer and admitted that he had been drinking four beers. The officer then asked him his highest level of education. He said he had a college education. The officer then asked if he could say his alphabet from A to Z and he said, "How do you do it backwards?"

The officer explained it again and this time he said it, only he stopped at the letter P.

The officer asked him if he had any problems with his eyes and he said yeah. Then the officer asked him what the problems were and he said he did not have any problems and that he was fine. He was asked to follow the light with his eyes but he was all over the place and kept moving his head even after being reminded five times not to. Then he said, "Like if a dog came between us while we were talking do you think either of us would catch that?"

He was then asked to do the nine step walk and turn test and he asked the officer why they were doing this test and he explained so that he could determine if he was sober and not have to make that decision on just one test.

Well, Mr. Know-it-All told the cop that his sister is an attorney and there are actually six tests. Then he said he only had two beers and if he blew he would register .09 percent. The legal limit is .08 percent.

Then they moved on to the one-legged stand and he said he did that when he played baseball. He asked the cop where he played baseball and the officer told him he did not play baseball. Then he said he would do the test if the officer did it with him. He started the test and then raised his leg and did a Karate Kid impression, although he did not impress anyone.

He was eventually arrested and once at the station refused to blow. Then the officer found out that he had two previous DUI convictions so he was charged with a third DUI.

Smell goods

A loss prevention officer watched a man come into his store and shove several bottles of cologne into his pockets and walk out. He called police and then chased the man through the parking lot and across the street. Police got there and arrested the man who had good taste in cologne. He actually stole seven bottles of things ranging from Ralph Lauren to Obsession.

The officer handcuffed the man and went to pat him down when the man admitted that he had needles in his pocket. Then he said, "I'm going to be honest with you, I do drugs." He was then charged with stealing and possession of paraphernalia.

I want my money back

A man paid the valet at a local hotel $5 to park and then went to the inside bar. Once inside he found out he had to pay $5 more to get a wrist band to drink. He wasn't into all that and got mad. He told the front desk manager that he wanted his money back and he was told he could not have his money back because he didn't have any proof that he had just gotten there.

The man got mad and pushed a cup of water off the counter and onto the manager's desk and computer. Police were called and the man denied doing it intentionally. He said it was an accident and showed the officer how it happened.But based on the position of the ruined equipment (totalling $900) and the cup, this could not have been an accident.

He was charged with Malicious Injury to Real property and he left without getting his money back.

Public drunk

An officer got a call from a citizen about a suspicious person walking the streets. They found him rather quickly stumbling down the road in his neighborhood, drunk as a skunk.

The officer gave him the benefit of the doubt and asked him if he had been drinking and he said, "Yes, but not as much as you, buddy."

Then he informed the officer that he could do whatever he wanted to in his neighborhood. And the officer politely reminded him that no, he could not, and he certainly could not be drunk and walking down the middle of the road.

He got to spend the night in jail and think about that little tid bit.

Not been drinking

Police were called to a local grocery store because a man was passed out on the benches next to the store. The officer got there and tried to wake him up. The man responded by calling the officer a racial slur and saying he would beat him up. But he never actually woke up when he said this. Then the officer did a sternum rub to really wake him up and it worked. The man jumped up, lunged at the officer and said he would beat him up. The officer took a step back and the man fell and struck his face on the pavement and was bleeding everywhere.

The officer handcuffed him and EMS came and treated his injury. He said he did not have a clue how he got to the business or anything else before that. So he was taken to jail to ponder the question and charged with being drunk in public. He denied drinking although an empty bottle of whisky was on the ground by the man. In fact, he said, he does not drink or do drugs. Once at the jail the officer found out he had several warrants out for his arrest, so he was held at the jail longer that he expected.

Brats

At 11:30 p.m. one night an officer on patrol of Ocean Boulevard on the island observed several trash cans and mailboxes on the ocean side of the street knocked down. The officer then observed a male juvenile, who disappeared when he saw the officer turn around. Minutes later, the officer again observed the subject, who ran away toward the beach on a beach access path. The subject was apprehended and taken into custody and found to be thirteen years old. Minutes later, a second officer located another male juvenile hiding in some bushes on Ocean Boulevard where he too was taken into custody. Both subjects had consumed alcohol and were responsible for knocking down at least eight mailboxes and many more trash cans. Both subjects were visiting from Saluda, and since both are juveniles, their case will be handled in Family Court.

Vacation gone bad

Officers responded to the Boardwalk Inn in Wild Dunes where management reported a domestic dispute in one of their guest rooms.

Upon the officer's arrival, management advised that the husband had just left the premises and provided a vehicle description. The wife stated that an argument escalated to a point where she retreated to the bathroom and he forced his way through the door, then pushed her against the wall, then to the floor, causing a head injury. The assault then moved to the living area where he continually shoved her onto the couch. She was able to retreat to an outside balcony where he attempted to close and lock the door. The victim was able to call building security, which resulted in her husband quickly exiting the premises.

The victim was transported to East Cooper Medical Center for treatment. The suspect was located within a few minutes parked in a vehicle at the Island Center where he was taken into custody charged with Criminal Domestic Violence.

Pay your tickets

Just before 2 a.m., an officer on patrol stopped a vehicle for an equipment violation on Palm Boulevard near 21st Avenue. While speaking to the driver, the officer detected an odor of alcohol and observed the driver to be overly nervous and fidgety. A second officer present observed the driver attempting to conceal a false identification with his right hand. A computer check of the driver revealed that his license was suspended for seven unpaid traffic tickets. A quantity of marijuana and drug paraphernalia was located in a bag. The driver was taken into custody charged with DUS, Lend, Borrow, Steal License Plate, No Insurance, NRVC 7 counts, and Simple Possession of Marijuana 3rd Offense, then transported to the Detention Center.

(The Police Blotter is intended to be an informative and/or humorous column written from police reports obtained from the Mount Pleasant Police Department. Many of the stories come from the initial incident reports and, occasionally, supplemental reports. Generally, cases have not been adjudicated at the time of publication.)