Lincoln Park
Trash cans set ablaze
Trash receptacle fires were reported at two businesses early last Sunday.
At 3:38 a.m. at Southriver Collision, 517 Southfield, a fire caused $200 in damage to the receptacle and $100 worth of damage to the paint on a brick wall south of the building.
Firefighters also doused a blaze about 3:45 a.m. in a garbage can outside Applewood Liquor Store, 743 Southfield.
Truck swiped during stop for smokes
A 2001 Dodge Ram was stolen from a gas station at 3848 Fort about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday after the driver stopped there for a pack of cigarettes.
He left the door open and the engine running, and when he went inside, he saw a man get in and drive the truck east on Moran.
The original driver was an Ecorse used car dealer who had left two briefcases containing some business and personal paperwork inside the truck.
Man caught lurking on store roof
Police were called just after 1 a.m. Monday to the Palace Party Store, 900 Fort, on word that someone was trying to break in.
When they arrived they set up a perimeter around the building and noticed a 39-year-old Detroit man running shirtless around the roof looking for an escape route. They ordered him to come down, but he ignored them briefly before eventually complying.
They found a sledgehammer on a secondary roof connected to the business and some damaged cinder blocks along a wall there, but no entry had been gained into the building.
Southgate
Man fights off would-be thief
A man living in the 11000 block of Dorchester was leaving for work just before 6 a.m. July 25 when he noticed a man inside his Ford Explorer trying to steal stereo equipment.
The passenger-side door was open, and when the owner showed up, the man got out and began fighting with the owner, who tripped him. The man then got up and was tripped by the would-be thief, who then ran to what police said looked like a green Plymouth Breeze and drove south on Allen Road.
The owner suffered an abrasion on his hand but declined medical treatment. He described the man inside his vehicle as in his early 20s, white, about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a thin to medium build and wearing jean shorts and a baseball cap.
The owner said nothing appeared to be missing from the vehicle.
Goods lifted from open garage
A man told police he left his elderly mother’s house in the 15400 block of Mulberry on May 24 and returned Monday to find about several thousand dollars’ worth of items missing from her garage.
There was no sign of forced entry, police said, adding that apparently the door had been left open the entire time.
Missing items included a wheeled toolbox valued at $1,900, oxygen acetylene tanks for welding ($1,000), a power washer ($600), a battery charger ($500), a chain saw ($1,000) and a generator ($600).
No lion: Lawn ornaments disappear
Two lion lawn ornaments were stolen from a house in the 13200 block of Fordline between 7 p.m. last Sunday and just after 7 a.m. Monday.
The concrete ornaments stood 18 inches tall and weighed 40 pounds each and were valued at $200 each.
Taylor
Traveler returns to find items missing
The resident of a house in the 10000 block of Island Lake Drive returned from Florida to find that it had been broken into between 6 p.m. July 20 and 3 p.m.
The front door had been kicked in and the deadbolt was broken. A flat-screen television and a laptop computer were taken.
A jewelry box and some dresser drawers had been rummaged through. Police collected three items that may bear the thief’s fingerprints.
Man sneaks video game out of store
A man used an inquiry about laptop computers to distract an employee at Rent A Center, 22301 Eureka, before walking out with a Sony PlayStation 3 video game console.
The employee said the man, who initially asked him about the laptops, was caught on video disconnecting the unit from a bank of television sets and placing it under his shirt. He then walked out of the store before the employee realized what had happened.
The man is described as white, 6 feet 2 inches to 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighing 175 pounds with greasy, shoulder-length hair.