The Blotter January 16 2002

Moments before midnight on New Year’s Eve, a 30-year-old woman was at Underground Atlanta with some friends. A young man — around age 20 — in a sweatsuit asked the woman and her friends to stop making so much noise. The woman and her friends continued to cheer in the new year, so the man punched the woman in the nose. She fell to the ground. A friend grabbed the man and took him to the ground. After the scuffle, the man left the scene. Then, the 30-year-old woman realized her long black leather coat was missing. The woman was taken to Crawford Long Hospital with a broken nose.

Three officers were patrolling a parking deck on Marietta Street on New Year’s Eve. They were in the middle of arresting someone else, when a 26-year-old man walked up. The 26-year-old asked the officers, “What is the first order in the Fight Club?” Officers repeatedly told him to leave. But the 26-year-old refused, continuing to slur, “What is the first order in the Fight Club?” He was arrested for being disorderly while intoxicated.

On New Year’s Eve near Centennial Olympic Park, a 19-year-old man from Auburn, Ala., told police that he was hit very hard in the mouth by an unknown man. Because the 19-year-old was quite tipsy, he couldn’t describe his assailant. Police took the 19-year-old to Grady Hospital. At Grady, the 19-year-old said he wanted to go to the Widespread Panic concert, but he continued to bleed from the mouth. Several of his teeth had been knocked out and he had a large cut. According to the police report, the 19-year-old repeatedly said “he wanted to drink more alcohol.”

On New Year’s Eve, a 29-year-old man told police he recently lost the keys to his apartment door on Center Street. He only told his ex-girlfriend about the loss. Then, the ex-girlfriend called him at work and asked him to do her hair. He said he couldn’t leave his shop unattended. She got angry. She repeatedly called him at work and cursed him out, threatening to have his apartment burglarized. Later, she called and said his apartment had been burglarized. The man didn’t believe the ex-girlfriend — until he went home and found his apartment ransacked. Missing items included a phone, portable radio and black leather coat.

On New Year’s Eve, a 29-year-old man who lives in an apartment on Lenox Road said his boyfriend got upset and started to destroy his apartment. He said the boyfriend dumped trash throughout the apartment and threw soda on the washer/dryer and kitchen blinds. In addition, the boyfriend punched, shoved and held him down. The boyfriend, a 36-year-old man from Mableton fled before police arrived.

About three hours after the new year began, an officer was sent to a Krystal’s restaurant on Piedmont Avenue to deal with a woman passed out in the drive-thru lane. Upon arrival, the officer saw a 23-year-old woman asleep in the driver’s seat of a black Audi. The officer knocked on the window. The woman woke up. The officer smelled alcohol on her breath and asked her to step out of the car for some sobriety tests. The woman was wearing house slippers, so she was unable to complete the “walk and turn” test. But she blew over the legal limit on the Breathalyzer, so she was arrested for DUI.

About four hours after the new year, an officer was patrolling a hotel on Peachtree Street. A 44-year-old Lithonia man in a gray suit was very drunk and acting aggressive near the pool. The officer told him to leave. The man repeatedly pretended to leave, then snuck back to the pool by using a rear staircase. After a struggle (during which the 44-year-old received a cut near the eye), the officer arrested and cuffed him. The 44-year-old said he was going to shoot the officer and kill him. During the ambulance ride, the 44-year-old said he would put the officer inside one of the ambulances as one of his new year’s resolutions.

A 29-year-old woman parked her ‘98 BMW Z-3 black convertible in the parking garage near her home on Arbor Gates Drive. When she returned, she found a note on her car. The note stated, “Just because you’re cute with a nice car doesn’t mean you should act like a snob.” The letter was signed “J.” The woman has no idea who wrote the letter.

After staying in the hospital for a few days, a 63-year-old man returned to his house on Cato Street. He discovered that a windowpane was broken out and a rock was sitting on his window ledge. The only item reported missing: a pair of burgundy pants from his bedroom closet.

A 27-year-old woman on Leila Lane said she received threatening phone calls from her father’s girlfriend. The girlfriend said she was going to blow the 27-year-old’s brains out because she was trying to get her parents back together. The girlfriend is about 50 years old.

A 38-year-old man on Hemlock Circle said his chain-link fence was damaged by his neighbor’s dogs. He said the dogs were chasing a rat that came from his neighbor’s deck, and mid-chase, they tore through his fence. There was a 2-foot section of damaged fence and his yard was torn up, the officer noted.

A 25-year-old cashier called police and reported that $11 of gas was stolen from a gas station on Ponce de Leon Avenue. According to the police report, the cashier “stated that she did not get any information because she was busy.”??