Allen Park
Window awning taken from front yard
A $2,300 red-and-white-striped window awning was discovered stolen about 6 a.m. Wednesday in the 14800 block of Champaign.
The resident said she had taken it down Monday and placed it on the ground under a tree in her front yard.
Locker stolen from employee break room
An employee’s locker at Staples, 23035 Outer Drive, was broken into sometime before 4:15 p.m. Oct. 31.
The locker room is in the rear of the store and not easily accessible to the public.
The lock had been cut off the locker and the woman’s purse was taken out and rifled through. A wallet that did not contain cash was missing, along with a cell phone and several pieces of identification.
Dearborn
Woman’s purse snatched at gas station
Two college-age men took a black purse about 11:45 p.m. Oct. 21 from a parked vehicle at Marathon, 15430 W. Warren Ave.
The victim, a 33-year-old Detroit woman, said she parked her car and saw two Arabic-looking men watching her from another vehicle, which she believed was a smaller-model Kia with a license plate number that began with the letters CBJ.
Feeling uneasy, she left the purse in her car and went inside the gas station. While there she saw one of the men, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, grab the purse out of her vehicle and run west across Greenfield Road to an alley north of Warren. The other man drove away in the same direction.
The purse contained $20, two debit cards and other miscellaneous items.
Car robber gives self away with wrong turn
An officer driving east about 4:45 p.m. Oct. 21 on Town Center Drive near Benihana, 18601 Hubbard Drive, watched as a 33-year-old Detroit man driving a white 2006 Dodge Durago turned north into a “do not enter” driveway, then backed up when he saw the officer.
The man apologized and said he was late for work at the restaurant.
When the officer pulled the vehicle over in the J.C. Penney upper-level parking lot, the vehicle showed up in the computer system as stolen out of Detroit on Aug. 14. The officer attempted to handcuff the man, who said he couldn’t allow himself to be arrested, then pulled away and sprinted through the parking lot and inside the store. Police and mall security could not find the man, although he did show up on security footage.
The man called his employer at Benihana and asked if police were looking for him. He told his employer he had been in a car accident and would explain more when he arrived at work the next day.
The restaurant owner was told to contact police if the suspect showed up for work Oct. 22.
Dearborn Heights
Cabbie suspiciously robbed at gunpoint
A 56-year-old cab driver from Detroit was mugged about 3:15 a.m. Monday.
He had picked up a white man, described as about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 22 years old, near Wyoming and Michigan about 3 a.m. After taking a $20 deposit, the man was transported to Pelham and Van Born before asking to be dropped off at Huron and Eton.
When the cab stopped and the cabbie was getting change for the man, the man asked how much the cabbie made in a shift. After receiving an answer, the suspect pulled out a large handgun while seated behind the cabbie and demanded all of the fare money from the shift, which came to about $250. The suspect then ran off in an unknown direction.
The driver said he called the cab company to notify them of the robbery about 3:30 a.m. and showed up at the
police station to report the incident about 3:45 because his cell phone did not have a signal.
Police said the driver’s story changed slightly each time he retold it. He told police he didn’t care about the robbery or offender, but wanted documentation of the incident for work.
Students robbed with threat of gun
Three residents – a 15-year-old boy, 13-year-old girl and 15-year-old girl – were robbed while standing on the northeast corner at Clippert and Annapolis.
They were standing about 8:15 p.m. Oct. 29 when two men parked a rusty sedan on Clippert, north of Annapolis.
The two men walked toward Annapolis High School, but stopped when one suspect – described as about 21 years old, white, 5 feet 9 inches tall with a medium build, goatee, large black jacket, royal blue cap and baggy pants – approached the group with his hand in his pocket as if he had a gun. He demanded their money and said he would “blow their brains out” if he didn’t receive it.
The boy was the only one with any money and handed over a $5 bill. The man walked back to his accomplice; the two then got in their vehicle and drove west on Annapolis.
Lincoln Park
Club manager returns for safe
The manager at Bada Bing!, 863 Dix, said a former manager took a small safe containing cash, along with two blenders, about 5:20 a.m. Monday.
The manager said the former manager had been fired but still had keys to the nude nightclub. The former manager told him he believed he was entitled to the cash because he was in negotiations with the club’s new owner.
The former manager said the safe belonged to him and not to the club. He did return the blenders, however.
The current manager wishes to prosecute over the missing money.
Boat, equipment disappear
An outboard motor, dolly, engine analyzer and computer were stolen from a business the 600 block of Southfield.
A roll-up garage door was forced open to gain entry, and the tools and motors were taken from the shop area. The motor is valued at $11,000, the dolly at $3,000, the analyzer at $800 and the computer at $1,500.
Melvindale
Running vehicle taken from gas station
A vehicle was stolen in the 2600 block of Oakwood Boulevard about 7 a.m. Tuesday when its owner went inside a gas station to get coffee.
He had left the vehicle running with the keys inside.
A gas station employee said there are cameras in the lot, but only the owner can access the footage.
Resident crying wolf on vehicle larcenies
Officers responded to a call of a vehicle being tampered with in the 19000 block of Wood about 3:15 a.m. Monday. Upon arrival, police found the area clear.
Several other midnight-shift officers had responded to calls from the same resident regarding unfounded calls of subjects tampering with vehicles.
Riverview
Drunken driver exposed by car crash
Officers responded to the scene of an automobile accident near Sibley Road and Fort Street about 11:15 p.m. Oct. 24 and discovered quite a mess.
A 24-year-old resident driving a blue 2003 Pontiac Sunfire and a 57-year-old Flat Rock woman’s vehicle had collided on eastbound Sibley Road west of Fort.
Both women were sitting in their vehicles and declined medical attention, but the resident’s vehicle still was running and she smelled of intoxicants as she accused the other woman of striking her vehicle. When asked if she had been drinking, she said she had one margarita at a bar. After failing sobriety tests, she recorded a 0.162 percent blood-alcohol level on a preliminary breath test. A level of 0.08 is considered intoxicated under Michigan law.
The resident, who also had a reckless driving ticket in Taylor last year, was cited for operating while intoxicated.
Different phone returned broken after online sale
A 30-year-old resident told police Oct. 22 that he had mailed a cell phone to someone in Louisville, Ky., through a Sept. 7 online purchase and received a similar cell phone with a different serial number in the mail.
The returned phone was broken.
Although the issue is a civil dispute with the online sales provider, the man said he needed a police report in order to be reimbursed $180.
Southgate
Converter bandits spotted
Catalytic converters were taken from two cars in the early evening last Sunday.
About 7 p.m., a woman who was watching a movie at MJR Southgate Digital Cinema 20, 15651 Trenton Road, got into her 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, started it up and heard a loud noise. At that point two other patrons came over and told her two men had just taken her catalytic converter.
The man and his girlfriend said they were inside their car when they heard a sawing noise from the car behind them. They looked up and saw a tall, thin black man between 30 and 40 years old sawing the converter from underneath the Cavalier.
He then got into a teal Ford station wagon dating to somewhere between 1995 and 2000 that was driven by a larger white man, also 30 to 40 years old.
They then remained in their car until the woman came out to let her know what had happened.
The man with the saw was wearing a black knit hat and a black jacket.
* * *
Shortly before 8 p.m., a converter also was stolen from beneath a 2003 Pontiac Montana parked in a lot in the 16100 block of Lowell.
Taylor
Roofing materials lifted
A pallet containing 26 bundles of roofing shingles was stolen last week from the parking lot of American House Senior Living Center, 25250 Eureka Road.
The shingles, which had been left unsecured, are valued at about $600.
Power tools missing
A resident of the 5900 block of Beech Daly heard a noise about 3:30 a.m. Oct. 29, but when she looked out into her backyard, she saw nothing and went back to sleep.
She awoke later that morning to find the side door of her garage open, and a snowblower and generator were missing.
Police did not list a value for missing items.
Trenton
Jewelry box cleaned out
Numerous jewelry items were stolen Tuesday from a house in the 2500 block of Third.
The resident left about 8 a.m. and came home just after 5 p.m. to find that entry had been gained through the north side kitchen window. A small table had been moved, and several items on a table had been knocked to the floor.
A bedroom had been ransacked, and several drawers and clothes had been thrown around.
Missing items included two Eastern Star black onyx rings valued at $400 collectively; another ring valued at $200; earrings ($200), an earring and matching necklace ($200); a pearl ring surrounded with diamond chips ($400); two pewter diamond rings over 100 years old ($400); a broken pearl necklace ($500); and an antique wristwatch ($200).
The approximate total value of the items is $2,900.
Man struck with bottle
Police were called just before midnight last Sunday to the 4600 block of Fort Street on word that an assault had just occurred.
They arrived to find a 21-year-old resident who said another man had just come up from behind and hit him over the head with a glass bottle. The victim appeared intoxicated and was very agitated and uncooperative yelling, “I want my mommy!” several times as emergency personnel treated him.
A 19-year-old woman told officers that the victim and her boyfriend had gotten into an altercation at her apartment in the 4800 block of Fort, but that a third man who also was in the apartment had run out and struck the victim with the bottle.
The victim was taken to Oakwood Southshore Medical Center for further treatment.
Wyandotte
Teen strangles own grandmother
A 51-year-old woman was strangled by a 14-year-old boy about 8 a.m. Oct. 27.
The woman, who is the biological grandmother and adoptive mother to the boy, became irate when she attempted to wake him up for school.
Saying she was “pestering” him, he jumped out of bed and put his hands around her neck in an effort to choke her before moving behind her and putting her in a sleeper hold.
The biological grandfather and adoptive father heard the commotion from the next room and came in to physically remove the boy from the woman. The boy did not fight the man, but restrained him from helping the woman.
When police arrived, they observed fresh red marks on the woman’s neck consistent with her account of events.
The boy admitted to everything and said he has assaulted his grandmother similarly in the past. He also said what he did was wrong and was arrested for domestic violence.
Cat in trap taken from yard
An animal trap was taken recently from a yard in the 800 block of Hudson.
The resident bought a humane silver animal trap because city animal control officials could not provide one to deal help him deal with neighborhood cats using his yard as a litter box.
He discovered a cat inside the trap about 7:30 a.m. Oct. 22 and put the trap in his yard near the rear gate, along the alley with the cat still inside. He had planned to take the cat to the city’s animal pound, but when he checked on it about 9 a.m., the cat and the trap both missing.
The man said he has had incidents with a neighbor two houses to his east when the neighbor comes on to his property looking for lost animals. The man said he noticed small tennis shoe imprints in the grass and dirt in the alley leading from his gate to his neighbor’s gate.
The resident questioned the neighbor, who denied any knowledge of the trap.
(Compiled by Chris Jackett and Tom Tigani.)