The Blotter August 11 2011

On a recent Saturday, an officer raced over to deal with a call about “suspicious activity” on Adina Drive. Four men dressed in all black “jumped out of a white delivery-type truck in a parking lot ... [they] were carrying two pistols and a long shotgun, approaching a red SUV ... with their weapons drawn and then returning back to the white truck.”

Both the officer and a man who lived nearby saw the startling incident. The officer called for backup and took on the suspects. “As I approached, I drew my service weapon for what appeared to be a robbery.” Turns out, it was all movie magic. The four men in the white truck “had a camera, and said they were filming a movie.” Still, the officer did his homework, in case this “movie” thing was a possible ruse. He said, “The weapons were checked and were fake.” Police also ran a background check on the actors and they were not wanted.

CALLED OUT: A 29-year-old man says he was in the drive-thru lane at a fast-food joint on Ponce de Leon Avenue when a strange man wearing shorts and white T-shirt approached his car, reached into his window and snatched his iPhone right out of his hand. Apparently, the iPhone thief then took off running down Ponce. The man said he last tracked his iPhone in the Midtown area, and there was video of the snatch on the restaurant’s surveillance video.

POLICE AND THIEVES: A female officer returned to her home on Daisy Drive in Decatur and realized she’d been robbed. The back door to her house was wide open as well as the dining room window. Two gun magazine cartridges and her 42-inch flatscreen TV were missing.

Being an expert on the subject, the officer hypothesized that the intruders probably broke into her home via the dining room window and then grabbed her spare house keys in the bedroom to leave through the back door. There aren’t any suspects.

HAPPY HOUR GONE SOUR: After a “hard day at work,” a 27-year-old man met some friends for drinks at a Midtown bar. He says he arrived early, so her parked on 10th Street and sat in his car while talking on his cellphone for about 10 minutes. His friends still hadn’t shown up, but he decided to get a drink while he waited. On his way to a nearby vending machine, he remembered he’d left his wallet sitting in his car’s middle console.

When he turned around to retrieve it, two guys pointed a silver gun at him, ordered him to get on the ground, and told him to hand over his car keys and cellphone. After the man forked over the goods, the suspects hopped into the man’s black Honda, his wallet still inside. Before they sped away, the suspects told the man to get up and run in the opposite direction. The man sprinted down Charles Allen Drive, flagged down a passing car and got the driver to call 911.

Police found his car later that day, but not before it was used in a Midtown home invasion (or so they suspect).

Items in the Blotter are taken from actual Atlanta police reports. The Blotter Diva compiles them and puts them into her own words.