That's my son's roach

An officer saw a truck driver fail to use a turn signal when he turned and then again when he switched lanes so he pulled the driver over. The officer asked for the man's information and where he was going.

He said he was leaving his place in Park West and heading to a friend's house in Rosemead. When asked if he stopped anywhere on the way, he said he did not.

However, the officer watched him pull onto a street along the way and leave after less than five minutes. The officer asked the man if there was anything illegal in the car and he said there was not. But the officer called the drug dog out anyway.

Sure enough, the dog hit on a roach tossed on the floorboard. The man blamed his son, saying his boy and his friends had been using the truck earlier in the day. He said his son normally drives the truck and he was just using it for the evening.

The officer must have believed it because he took the roach and gave the man a warning for the traffic violations.

T-shirt says it all

Like the above incident, an officer watched a car make a quick stop without using a turn signal. The officer pulled this driver and asked him where he was coming from. He said he was coming from his house. He said he did stop at a friend's house that lives down the street from him. While talking to the man, the officer noticed his T-shirt to say, "it's only illegal if you get caught."

So the officer asked him if there was anything illegal; the man said no. He agreed to let the officer search and he found nothing.

Delivery guy on drugs

A car whipped out of a local shopping center, almost causing a wreck by pulling out in front of someone.

Well, a police officer just happened to witness the entire incident. He followed the driver to a nearby gas station and when they stopped, the driver became argumentative saying that he didn't do anything wrong. He said he was just trying to get gas so he could make his pizza delivery and go home.

However, he happened to work at a pizza joint that is well known for drug activity. When asked if there was anything illegal in the car, the driver replied no. But he also refused to let the officer search the inside of the car. Instead, he got very defensive and wanted to know why the officer was detaining him.

While chatting the officer noticed this driver's eyes were very glassy and watery. The driver said the wind was bothering his eyes, but the officer found that odd since he too was standing outside and his eyes were fine.

Since the driver would not let the officer search the inside of his car, he pulled out the drug dog and let him sniff around the outside of the car. The dog hit on several places, allowing the officer the right to search inside. Inside the officer found pieces of pot plant five pills that the driver said were Altoids.

He also found heroin. The officer asked him when the last time he smoked pot was; he said several days ago. The officer searched the man himself and found a bag of cocaine. He was arrested and charged with possession and the traffic offenses — and his car was towed. No word on if the customer got his pizza or not.

Gettin' a kick out of it

An Isle of Palms police officer observed an intoxicated woman on J.C. Boulevard. Miss not-so-sober started cussing, causing a ruckus outside of a restaurant. The officer called the girl's mom to come pick her up.

While waiting for her mom to come get her, the girl decided to run away.

Or tried to anyway. The officer caught up with her and put her in the back seat of the police car. At this time, the officer was informed that there was a collision and that the car was resting against the side of an office building. It took the officer no time to determine whose car that belonged to. While in the police car, the girl began to deliberately bang her head against the security partition, causing a laceration to her forehead. After the fire department personnel performed first aid, the girl was transported by EMS for further treatment. EMS requested that an officer ride with her, due to the girl's behavior of the evening.

Well, she fought the hospital personnel who tried to help her and while the hospital staff tried to put her legs in a gurney for restraining measure, she kicked the arresting officer in the head.

She was charged with Disorderly Conduct and Assault on a Police Officer and released to her parents' custody.

Ditch drunk

Isle of Palms officers responded to a call regarding a domestic violence complaint. The caller said that he was being assaulted by his wife and was trying to leave the home to call the police. The man said that his wife got drunk in Charleston and then got her car stuck in a ditch. The man got the car out of the ditch and drove his wife home. Her token of gratitude was to punch him in the mouth and try to strangle him when they discussed the incident. Police clearly could tell the man did not make this story up as he had fresh scratches and blood on his face. The wife was taken into custody and charged with Criminal Domestic Violence.

Turfing attempt

A man reported that an unknown pick-up truck drove into his Isle of Palms driveway and into his garage. When police arrived to the scene, they saw the driver was a drunk man, who was having a hard time keeping his balance. The man later became loud and belligerent to the neighbors. He was taken into custody and charged with Public Intoxication. His vehicle was towed at his expense.

Savin' the universe

A patrol officer on the Isle of Palms Connector pulled a car over for speeding.

While taking to the driver, he found out that she was not only homeless but was on a mission to go to the Isle of Palms "to save the universe." Officers found out that she was listed as a missing person through the Williamsburg County Sheriff's Office. She was returned to her family and has hopefully sorted out her mission.

(The Police Blotter is intended to be an informative and/or humorous column written from police reports obtained from the Mount Pleasant and Isle of Palms Police Departments. 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. )