Allen Park
Bicycle stolen at courthouse
A man’s unlocked bicycle was stolen outside the 24th District Court, 6515 Roosevelt, about 1:15 p.m. Aug. 31.
He arrived at 1 p.m., sat down in the lobby and told a man he was there to take care of a warrant. A third man told the victim that if he didn’t have any money with him, the court would send him to the Wayne County Jail.
The second man overheard the comment, got nervous and told the victim he had to leave. The second man had said friend had dropped him off, and that he now needed to get to a friend’s house in Lincoln Park. The second man made his comment after learning the victim had ridden his bicycle to the courthouse.
Only four civilian individuals were in the lobby when the bicycle was stolen. The second man was the only one who left the courthouse while the victim was waiting for his turn in court.
Dearborn
Pharmacy burglarized
An early morning break-in on Sept. 5 at West Village Pharmacy, 2040 Monroe, netted the culprit $200 in cash.
Police were dispatched to the store on a burglary alarm about 2 a.m. and upon arrival found a side entry door pried open. Also discovered outside on the sidewalk was a large metal safe filled with prescription narcotics.
When the business owner arrived, she said the only thing that appeared missing was cash taken from the register.
After reviewing surveillance footage, police said the suspect resembled a known breaking-and-entering suspect who lives near the pharmacy. Officers checked the house of the suspect, but no one answered the door, police said.
Purse snatched
A purse was stolen in a strong-arm robbery on Sept. 3 outside of Dollar Tree, 10830 Warren.
The 39-year-old victim told police she was walking down the sidewalk in front of the store when a man approached and grabbed the purse, which was over her arm.
She yelled at the man to try to get him to stop and managed to wrestle the purse back from him momentarily, but he grabbed it again and ran to a car waiting in the alley behind the building. After the robber rifled through the purse for about a minute, the car fled in an unknown direction, the victim said.
The robber is described as a medium-built black man between 25 and 35 years old with short hair. At the time of the incident he was wearing a red T-shirt and blue jean shorts. The driver of getaway car was described only as a black woman. The car itself is believed to be a newer red subcompact with a spoiler on the trunk, possibly a Chevrolet Cobalt.
Dearborn Heights
Sod stealer busted
A 42-year-old resident was arrested for larceny Sept. 5 after he was caught stealing sod that was intended to repair torn-up grass from recent work on Van Born Road.
A witness near Roosevelt and Monroe, where the sod was located, reported watching the suspect loading the turf into the back of his brown Ford Explorer. The witness then followed the Explorer to a house in the 4600 block of Clippert, where the driver unloaded the rolls.
Officers confirmed the witness’s account and set up for an arrest just down the block from the Clippert house. When they saw the Explorer pull into the driveway, they moved in and found that the suspect had placed more sod in the back of the sport utility vehicle. The man, who owns the house as a rental, subsequently was arrested.
Lincoln Park
Robber gets cash to go from restaurant
Police are looking for a man who robbed KFC, 1217 Dix, about 6 p.m. Tuesday.
An employee said he noticed the man standing in the vestibule before entering and ordering a small drink. The man then walked to the self-serve drink station, returned to the front counter with the cup, set it down and told the employee he didn’t need it
The man then ordered the employee to open the cash register. The employee at first declined, saying he needed a swipe card to do it, but the man persisted.
The man then pulled a black handgun from his right front pants pocket and said, “I’m serious. Don’t play with me. Open the drawer.”
The man then put the gun back into his pocket.
Fearing the man would shoot, the employee then opened the register and gave the man the contents. The man told the employee not to follow and exited out the west doors.
Police are in the process of obtaining surveillance video from the store.
The robber is described as black, 20 to 30 years old, about 6 feet 5 inches tall with a medium build and short, black, nappy hair. He was wearing a beanie hat, an oversized black T-shirt, dark, baggy jeans, dark-colored gym shoes and large sunglasses.
Cyclist injured in solo crash
A 48-year-old resident is recovering from an accident that occurred about 1 a.m. Sept. 4 while he was driving his 2006 Harley-Davidson motorcycle south on Fort Street near Southfield Road.
About 60 yards south of Southfield in the left lane of Fort, police found the man unconscious and partially under his motorcycle. A puddle of liquid and broken beer bottle fragments were lying in the road nearby.
A witness said the man was driving carelessly and may have been drunk. She said although he appeared to be traveling at the legal speed limit, he continued south on Fort through a yellow traffic signal for which she had stopped, and that he then lost control of the cycle and wiped out.
No one else was injured in the accident.
Melvindale
Speedster late for own birthday party
About 6 p.m. Sept. 5, a vehicle heading north at 62 miles per hour in a 35-mph zone on Dix between Blanche and Grace passed an officer parked alongside the road. The officer followed the vehicle, driven by a 39-year-old Allen Park man, as it passed at least four vehicles on the right before stopping for a red light at Oakwood Avenue.
The vehicle then turned west onto Oakwood through the red light and accelerated to high speeds again. The officer pulled the vehicle over at Palmer and Oakwood. The suspect said he knew he was being pulled over for speeding, and went on to explain that he was late for his birthday party.
The officer gave him a ticket for reckless driving.
Prostitute nabbed on the job
An undercover officer saw a 24-year-old resident in the alley at Raupp and Schaefer behind the BP gas station about 2:15 a.m. Sept. 3 making contact with drivers of passing vehicles by walking up to them.
The officer drove around, greeted her and asked what she was doing. She said she was trying to get money for cigarettes.
The officer said he thought she was working, and when she said she was, he inquired about services she was offering. She gave him two options, both of which would cost $10. The officer said he needed prophylactics, and she said the gas station had them.
The officer then drove away and called for backup to arrest her. As he drove back to her while waiting for officers to arrive, she walked up to his carWhen she saw officers approaching, she went around to the rear of the vehicle, reached into her waist and threw a metal pipe to the ground.
She then was arrested. The pipe had been used to smoke crack cocaine and was recovered as evidence.
Riverview
One-third BAC too much for bladder
An officer was parked in the west lot at Gabriel Richard Catholic High School, 15325 Pennsylvania Road, about 2:15 a.m. Sept. 3 when a maroon 2001 Pontiac Montana pulled in with a flat front-passenger side tire.
The officer watched as the van stopped, backed up and then drove forward toward the school before parking on the sidewalk along the west side of the building.
The driver, a 55-year-old Taylor man, exited the van to check on the flat tire, which had badly damaged the vehicle’s rim. The man, who had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, told the officer he had just come from a retirement party.
Police found an open bottle of vodka and a shotgun shell inside the van.
The man was arrested and at the police station registered a 0.33 percent blood-alcohol content on a breath test. While performing a second breath test for confirmation, the man urinated on himself and did not complete the test.
Southgate
Equipment swiped
A total station Geodimeter valued at $30,000 was discovered missing about 10:30 p.m. last Sunday from a truck parked at Holiday Inn, 17201 North Line Road.
A data collector valued at $1,700 also was taken, as was a metal detector valued at $300. The driver of the truck told police he had parked it in the lot about 11 a.m. that day.
The liftgate on the truck’s cap was damaged, and found left open after the items were taken.
Garage items collected
Several items were taken from a garage in the 13100 block of Orchard between 3 p.m. Aug. 26 and 4 p.m. Monday.
The side door had been pried open. Missing items included hand tools, an edger, a weed trimmer and a rototiller, collectively value at about $1,000.
The owner’s initials were engraved on the power tools.
Taylor
Thieves target tires
Two cars were vandalized Sept. 1 while parked in adjacent blocks of Continental Circle.
About 8:30 a.m., a 2008 Dodge Avenger in the 26000 block was found with its rear passenger-side window broken out. All four tires and wheels were broken out, and the car was put up on landscaping blocks.
While police were talking to the car’s owner, a resident of the 25900 block said her 2009 Chevrolet Equinox also had been broken into overnight. The rear driver’s-side door window had been broken out, and the glove box and center console had been rummaged through.
She told police she believed someone was looking for the locking nut in an attempt to remove the tires.
Day at work ends in theft
A renter in the 15900 block of Wellington came home from work about 8 p.m Aug. 30 to find a 42-inch television and a video game system missing from her son’s bedroom.
She said she had left a kitchen window open for fresh air when she left for work that morning, and that a table had been moved by whoever took the items.
The resident said she did not have renters’ insurance.
Trenton
Church stakeout nabs burglar
Police were called to surveillance duty early Sept. 3 at Trenton Church of Christ, 2650 Grange Road, following a burglary a few days earlier of a television set there.
Church officials identified a suspect earlier that day who was acting suspiciously in a room on the building’s south side and asked him to leave when they found a window in that room unlocked. Police set up an unmarked surveillance vehicle about 1 a.m.
About 2:30 a.m. a male wearing all dark clothing rode up on a bicycle and parked it near the west doors. He then walked along the building to a window on the south side and spent 35 to 40 seconds trying to open it before heading to the west doors and pulling on them several times.
The suspect then got on his bike and began riding away west through the alley. Surveilling officers relayed the information to another unit, who stopped the man, a 25-year-old resident, and arrested him for attempted burglary.
He was wearing several layers of clothing, with all dark exterior layers and white interior layers. Police believe he was prepared to shed the exterior clothes after the burglary if necessary.
Wyandotte
Injured man helped to hospital
Police found a 58-year-old Lincoln Park man walking along Goddard Road near 17th about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday with a bleeding head wound. Blood had dried up around the wound. The man said he had been waiting at a bus stop in southwest Detroit when he was jumped by a black man about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds.
The man said the attack was quick and from his blind side. He was struck at least four times with a blunt object, which caused the large cut on the top of his head. He also complained of pain in his right hand and wrist.
After the assault the man decided to visit his niece in Lincoln Park near Ferris and Goddard. However, he then decided to walk to Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, 3333 Biddle Ave., to get treatment for his wounds.
Officers called an ambulance to take the man to the hospital and told him to follow up with the respective Detroit precinct regarding the assault.
Company tools taken from unlocked van
Several items were stolen between 11 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday from inside a 2000 Chevrolet van parked in a driveway in the 500 block of Elm.
The van, registered to a Commerce Township-based business, had been left unlocked.
A $3,500 power sewer snake, a $6,500 sewer camera, a $100 reciprocating saw and a bag filled with $200 in miscellaneous hand tools were missing, while some larger tools were left behind. Total value of the stolen property is about $10,300.
(Compiled by Chris Jackett, J. Patrick Pepper and Tom Tigani.)