Allen Park
Flat tire foils drunken driver
A flat tire that may have been caused by a drunken driver repeatedly hitting a curb during the early morning hours of Oct. 8 may have enabled patrol officers to get the impaired driver, a 48-year-old Melvindale woman, off the road.
A witness calling on a cell phone, who had been following the driver on the southbound Southfield Freeway since the Warren Road area, said she was in an older model Chevy Malibu, and that she was swerving between lanes and driving at an inconsistent speed. The driver hit the curb near Southfield Road and Pinecrest about four times, after which the driver reportedly crossed all four lanes of traffic to turn north onto Southfield Road near Luana Avenue. When the driver entered the ramp to go on westbound I-94, the flat tire caused her to pull over to the shoulder.
When patrol officers arrived on scene, the woman was awake but did not respond when they knocked on the driver’s side car window. An officer opened her car door, and immediately detected the odor of intoxicants. The woman identified herself with a Michigan chauffeur’s license. Her eyes were glassy, and she admitted to drinking at a friend’s house earlier. Her speech was slow and slurred. She said she was not sure where she was, but she was trying to get to her home.
The woman failed multiple field sobriety tests. A preliminary breath test was administered, and the woman had a blood-alcohol content of 0.13, more than one-and-a-half times the 0.08 limit for legally drunk in Michigan.
The woman was taken into custody for operating while impaired, and was taken in for booking, at which time it was discovered that her driver’s license was suspended, and she had no proof of insurance. Her vehicle was impounded and towed.
Vehicle vandalized; ex-girlfriend suspected
A woman who sent a taunting text to her ex-boyfriend asking him how much it would cost to repair his car is suspected of vandalizing his 2016 Honda Accord the night of Sept. 30 when it was parked at Thunderbowl Lanes, 4200 Allen Road.
The man said he was at the bowling alley from 9 to 11 p.m. Sept. 30, and when he returned to his car, it was keyed on the rear and driver’s side, one of the windshield wipers was ripped off and the driver’s side mirror was destroyed. He said the relationship had ended two weeks earlier.
Dearborn
Man arrested for retail fraud at Walmart
Police assisted with a retail fraud report Sept. 30 while responding to Walmart, 5851 Mercury Drive, for an unrelated report, which led to an arrest of a man for retail fraud.
The loss prevention officer at the store watched the man at the self checkout register via security video scanning one item of clothing but placing two items into the Walmart bags. According to the report, the police officer joined the LPO in watching the man attempt to steal the clothing. The man walked toward the store exit without paying for the items.
The LPO started following the man on foot and confronted him about the concealed clothing items worth $63.58. He was taken to the LPO office and placed under arrest by police. A copy of the security video was given to police for the investigation.
The man was given a $400 bond for third degree retail fraud.
Police stop vehicle for cracked windshield, arrest driver on warrants
While on patrol in the area of Chase and Ford roads, officers noticed a green 2002 Mazda traveling west on Ford Road with a cracked windshield on Oct. 2.
A check of the license plate revealed it was registered to a Pontiac vehicle. Police conducted a traffic stop at Kendal and Alber where the driver was identified with the Michigan Digital Image Retrieval System.
After a background check of the driver’s record revealed two warrants out of 19th District Court for driving with a suspended license and registration violation, each with a $250 bond.
According to the report, dispatch canceled the local warrants and the driver was given a citation for the obstruction vision violation. Police advised the driver to contract the 19th District Court within three to 14 days.
Dearborn Heights
Two men report pickups keyed in parking lot
Police were called to Antonio’s Cucina Italiana, 26356 Ford Road, Sept. 30 after two men reported their vehicles were keyed in the parking lot.
According to the report, the two men were eating at the restaurant, and when they left about 8 p.m. they observed the damage to their trucks. The vehicles vandalized were a Dodge Ram and a Ford F-150.
Both men told officers that they were inside the restaurant at the same time when their vehicles were keyed.
Police were unable to find security cameras and videos in the area after they conducted a search.
Lincoln Park
Thief fails to hotwire Ford F-350
A foiled thief damaged the steering column ignition interface of a 2003 gray Ford F-350 pickup truck, which was parked from 5 p.m. Oct. 1 to 7:39 a.m. Oct. 2 in the 2200 block of McLain Avenue. The truck owner, a 48-year-old man, said he locked the vehicle when he parked it, and in the morning the hazard lights were on and the driver’s door was unlocked. Nothing else was taken from the vehicle. The man was given a report number for his insurance company.
Fraudulent Xfinity account found when victim’s credit rating compromised
A 31-year-old woman who was attempting to purchase a vehicle in mid-September discovered that her credit history had been hurt by a fraudulent Xfinity account opened in her name, for which a delinquent debt of $1,430 was due. The fraudulent account was for an apartment in the 400 block of Brainard Street in Detroit. The woman filed a police report Sept. 28, and was advised to dispute the debt with Xfinity and monitor her credit history.
Melvindale
Shoplifter, fraudulent return foiled by alert employees
Employees at Rite Aid, 4016 Oakwood Blvd., prevented a man from fraudulently obtaining a refund for items without a receipt the afternoon of Oct. 9, which an accomplice had likely shoplifted from the same store earlier.
Store personnel said that after reviewing surveillance video, they saw a woman shoplifting $60 worth of hemorrhoid cream and $18 worth of decongestant cold medication. The woman had asked for help finding the cream after she had concealed it on her person. The woman then asked for a store bag at the register before she left the store.
About 15 minutes later, a man entered the store with the hemorrhoid cream and decongestant, in a store bag, but without a receipt, and argued with store personnel, who refused to issue him a receipt. He left the items in the store when he failed to get a refund.
Both the man and the woman were described as black and in their 50s, and the man was missing several from teeth. He was driving a older model silver Pontiac.
Business window shattered
The business owner of The Teck Guy, 4227 Oakwood Blvd., reported Oct. 5 that about 5 a.m. Oct. 4 an unknown object shattered a second floor window of the business. Surveillance video revealed a white male throwing an object at the window. The footage also shows the man cutting screens at another nearby business. Police officials recognized the man as a local person know for numerous acts of property damage. A copy of the surveillance video was forwarded to department detectives for follow up.
Southgate
Bank window broken
A second story window on the north side of the PNC Bank building, 16333 Trenton Road, valued at $500, was reported broken at 8:41 a.m., Oct. 5, and police officers notified the key holder of record after finding the building doors securely locked, and no likely way for a suspect to have entered the building.
Fluke meters, laptop stolen from vehicles parked at hotel
Two fluke meters valued at $1,000 each, used to troubleshoot and diagnose electrical problems, and a Dell laptop, valued at $2,000, property of Deep South Crane Company, were reported stolen the morning of Sept. 29 from a 2017 red Ford F-550 truck parked overnight at Holiday Inn Express, 13333 Heritage Center. The rear passenger side window was broken and the front passenger side window was damaged. One fluke meter was under a jacket on the back seat, the other was in a tool box on the back seat, and the laptop was under the passenger seat.
Taylor
Little League building broken into; nothing taken
Police officers responded to reports of a security alarm in the early morning hours of Oct. 7 at the Taylor Little League Baseball Field Clubhouse, 9350 Westlake, associated with the front door entry alarm. They found that the door had been pried open. After clearing the clubhouse, a local Little League official said he did not see anything missing or out of place. The door was secured and a police report number issued.
Trenton
Harley stolen
A 2001 purple Harley-Davidson motorcycle was stolen between 11 p.m. Oct. 5 and 7:15 a.m. Oct. 6 from an open trailer on which it was strapped down in front of a house in the 9400 block of Oak Street. Neither the Harley owner’s security cameras nor his neighbor’s captured any images of the theft. The man said he had no enemies and no suspects. Officers canvassed the neighborhood and did not see the Harley in the area.
Silverado vandalized
A man who lives near the intersection of Churchill and Greenview reported the evening of Oct. 4 that his 2018 black Chevy Silverado was keyed the night before, with a deep scratch running from the front quarter panel on the driver’s side door to the rear tailgate. He said he could think of no one who would want to damage his vehicle. There were no nearby surveillance cameras.
Wyandotte
Baseball bat brawl at bar
A bar fight involving a baseball bat that began at Brooklyn’s, 1254 Eureka, ended with a 33-year-old Wyandotte man being arrested at 2 a.m. Oct. 2 for felonious assault.
Police officers who responded to the scene saw the man swinging a baseball bat toward two men who he encountered earlier at the bar. The two men continued to walk away, and only one of the men stopped when told by a police officer to do so, while the other continued to walk away until confronted and handcuffed by an officer, who noticed that the man’s head was bleeding.
The two men said they had met the other man in the bar and invited him to play pool, which he declined. Heated words were exchanged, after which the man exited, then re-entered with a baseball bat and hit one of the men in the head, which he admitted to police officers.
The man with the head laceration was treated by fire department personnel. The man who hit him with the bat was taken into custody and charged with felonious assault. The baseball bat was taken tagged as evidence.
A preliminary breath test was administered, and the man had a blood-alcohol content of 0.186, more than two times the 0.08 limit for legally drunk in Michigan.
Known narcotic user casing closed businesses pursued
A 32-year-old Lincoln Park man, known as a heavy narcotic user, was riding a bike north on the sidewalk of Fort Street near Clark the evening of Oct. 2, riding slowly and looking into the windows of closed businesses. When he saw patrol officers watching him nearby, he attempted to evade them by bicycle. After a short, convoluted chase, a police officer on foot pulled the man from his bike. The man fell, hitting his head on a nearby curb. The man continued to resist arrest, struggling with the officer until he was sprayed in the face with a chemical deterrent.
The man was taken into custody for resisting arrest and obstructing officers. During booking, cocaine was found in his possession, for which he also was charged.
(Compiled by Zeinab Najm and Sue Suchyta.)