Allen Park
Woman caught stealing about $194 in merchandise
Police were called to Meijer, 3565 Fairlane Drive, after loss prevention officers saw a man and woman place items in a shopping cart and leave the store about 8:45 a.m. Jan. 8. The loss prevention officers told police the woman placed two pairs of yoga pants, three pair of jeans and three packs of woman’s brief, while the man placed three sets of knives in the cart.
The woman placed all the items in the baby seat of the cart, police said, then removed the hangers and covered them with her coat. Police said a clear pink container with a folded paper containing a brown powder, a short pink “snorting” straw and a small silver container with a white powder in it was found on the woman and handed over to officers.
Police field tested the substances, which tested positive for drugs. The woman was arrested and processed for the theft, possession of drugs and the possession of drug paraphernalia. The man was not arrested and all the merchandise was recovered by the loss prevention officers.
Stranded woman arrested for drinking
A 42-year-old Belleville woman was arrested after becoming stuck in a snow bank on Pelham Avenue south of I-94 about 8:45 p.m. Jan. 8. Police said a city salt truck driver reported the incident. When officers arrived, the woman was trying to back out of the snow bank.
The responding officers made contact with the woman and said her eyes appeared glassy and bloodshot. There was a smell of alcohol coming from the car, police said, and they asked the woman if she had been drinking.
She told police she was not drinking and was trying to get to the hospital because her daughter was in labor, but could not provide officers with the name of a hospital. The woman said she was not the one driving the vehicle and was just trying to get unstuck.
Police officers asked her to submit to a field sobriety test, but the woman refused. She said she had previous injuries and had not taken her medications before she left the house. Officers were able to administer the finger to nose test, asked her to recite the alphabet and observed her vision.
After failing those tests, police said the woman was advised of her preliminary breath test rights and she refused the test. Officers were able to contact the second individual in the car, who told them the woman was the one driving the car.
The woman was arrested and processed for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and police towed the vehicle to the impound lot. Police asked the woman to take a chemical breath test and advised her of her rights. She asked to speak with her lawyer and later consented to the test.
One sample was collected in three tries, police said, because the woman did not blow into the machine properly the first time and could not provide sufficient breath for a second test. The accepted sample registered at .14, almost twice the legal limit of .08 for driving in Michigan.
Woman arrested for theft and warrants
Loss prevention officers informed police they were holding a theft suspect at Home Depot, 3163 Fairlane Drive, about 1 p.m. Jan. 7. The 41-year-old Rockwood woman was seen concealing three water filter cartridges from the plumbing department. The loss prevention officers said the woman walked in, took the cartridges off the shelf, and shoved them in her purse and coat pocket.
She was seen walking out of the store without paying for the items, police said, before being stopped by the loss prevention officers and escorted back into the store. Police arrested her and transported her to the police station. She told police her vehicle was parked at the store and police had the vehicle impounded. The woman was processed for the theft and a local warrant.
Snowblower stolen from tuck bed
A man went into the Police Department to report his snowblower was stolen from the bed of his truck about 8 a.m. Jan. 3. He told police his truck was parked in front of LA Fitness, 3223 Fairlane Drive, from 6:25 to 7:30 a.m. while he went inside to work out.
When he returned to the vehicle, police said, the 300-pound snow blower was gone. He said there were two ramps in the back of his truck that could have been used to get the snowblower out of the bed of the truck. There were no witnesses to the incident, and the snowblower was estimated at $1,300.
Dearborn
Vehicle stolen
Police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle in the 7900 block of Wisconsin at just after 6:30 a.m. Jan. 9.
Officers spoke to the caller, who said the gold 2001 Honda Accord did not belong to him, but to a brother who also lives in Dearborn. The caller told police the vehicle had been parked on the street in front of the house overnight and he had last seen in around midnight. About 6 a.m., the man woke up and saw that the vehicle was missing.
The man was able to provide both sets of keys to police and said he did not know of anyone who would have taken the vehicle. He also said there was no property of significant value inside the vehicle at the time of the theft.
Officers searched the street but were unable to find any broken glass or sign of a forced entry into the vehicle. They also checked the surrounding area but did not find the vehicle.
No suspect information was available.
Items stolen from vehicle
An officer was dispatched to the parking lot of the Fairlane Town Center, 18900 W. Michigan Avenue, to investigate a report of a vehicle being broken into and having items stolen from it about 6 p.m. Jan. 8.
The victim stated that he had parked his blue 2003 Mercury Mountaineer in the lot near P.F. Chang’s at 4:30 p.m. and upon returning observed the driver’s door ajar. He also discovered that the window to that seat had been broken out and after searching the vehicle found that a black bowling bag containing two bowling balls, a pair of bowling shoes and an Apple iPod was missing.
The victim also found a flat head screwdriver on the floorboard under the driver’s seat that he said did not belong to him. The officer checked the vehicle and observed marks consistent with prying along the window frame indicating that the screwdriver may have been used to attempt entry into the vehicle before the window was broken.
The screwdriver was taken as evidence and the officer contacted management at the restaurant to obtain footage from security cameras facing the lot. The footage did not give a clear image of the incident and nothing else of evidentiary value was found at the scene.
Dearborn Heights
Vehicle stolen from street
A woman called police to report that her white 2013 Ford Fusion was stolen from in front of her house in the 8100 block of Riverdale just after 7 a.m. Jan. 10
The woman told police the vehicle had been parked in the street in front of the residence overnight and that it had last been seen by her brother, who had returned to the house about 3 a.m. and reported seeing the vehicle.
When the woman woke up at 7 a.m. and walked out of the house, she saw that the vehicle was no longer there.
The woman presented both sets of keys to the officers and said the vehicle had been locked.
Officers checked the street and the area where the vehicle had been parked but were unable to locate any broken glass or any other sign of a forced entry.
Armed men force way in, search house
Three armed men forced their way into an occupied house in the 24000 block of Annapolis at 3:20 a.m Jan. 9, police said.
The victim told police she had been dropped off at her residence at 3 a.m. and about 15 minutes later she heard someone knocking loudly on the front door. She opened it and three men on the front porch holding handguns with laser sights. The men asked if a friend of the victim was at the residence, and when she told them that he was not, the men forced their way into house.
Once inside, the men repeatedly asked for the whereabouts of the friend while they searched the rooms of the house. The victim said she didn’t know and was made to stay in the living room while the search was conducted. She reported hearing glass breaking upstairs after one of the men went up to the second floor.
After about 10 minutes of searching, the men left the house and fled west on Annapolis in an unknown vehicle without taking any of the victim’s property.
The woman was not able to give the officers any details about the men other than they were white and were wearing dark clothing because she was not wearing her glasses when she answered the door.
Police also observed that the victim was intoxicated.
Nothing of evidentiary value was found at the scene, but police reported finding a broken mirror and ransacked rooms upstairs in the house.
Lincoln Park
Cash advance store burglarized
One or more burglars broke into Advance America, 2271 Fort St., sometime between Friday night and 9 a.m. Jan. 11, although all that was reported stolen was a DVR and empty cash box.
Police responded shortly after 9 a.m. when an employee reporting to work discovered that an alarm panel had been torn off the wall. According to police reports, the employee left the business and waited for investigators to determine that no one was inside.
The interior of the store appeared to have been ransacked, and phone and alarm lines had been cut. There was no sign of forced entry.
Police expected to review surveillance video images and are investigating.
Break-in reported of gas station, ATM
Sometime between midnight and 6 a.m. Monday one or more burglars broke in to Marathon, 2472 Dix, and made off with an unknown amount of merchandise along with cash from an ATM.
Police responded to a call from an employee who arrived at the station and discovered that the store’s exterior electrical lines had been cut, the alarm system ripped from the wall and the front door was damaged. Investigators determined that no one remained inside while police checked for evidence.
Police awaited a list of stolen merchandise and are investigating.
Melvindale
Argument turns into an arrest for one man
Residents in the 17300 block of Henry Avenue called police about a verbal dispute about 10:10 p.m. Jan. 8. When officers arrived, they searched a man standing in the front yard before placing him in a patrol vehicle.
He told police he was trying to leave the house, but he was not allowed to retrieve his phones. Officers knocked on the door and asked the woman inside for the man’s phones. The woman and man gave police the phones to sort out the phone situation, but as the man exited the patrol vehicle an officer saw a clear bag of a substance that resembled marijuana.
Another clear bag was found outside of the patrol vehicle and officers field tested the substance which tested positive for marijuana. Police arrested the man for possession of marijuana. He told police the marijuana was not his and that was what the two were arguing about.
Armed man steals radio from vehicle
A woman called police to Strong Elementary, 3303 Oakwood Blvd., after she saw a man in her vehicle through her back window about 1:20 p.m. Jan. 10. She told police she yelled at the man as he reached behind him, pulled out a gun, and pointed it at her.
The woman said the man exited the vehicle and got into an older model, blue Chevrolet Malibu or Impala.
Police said the vehicle was locked and it appeared that the man punched out the lock on the driver’s door. The trim around the radio was broken, police said, and the radio was pulled out of the dash. The man did not take the radio out of the vehicle, police said, because they found it sitting on the driver’s seat. The dashboard and radio were dusted for fingerprints. There were no reported witnesses to the incident.
The man was described as black, in his 30s, at least 6 feet tall, skinny with short hair and no facial hair. A passenger in the getaway vehicle was described as a black woman about 25 to 30 years old.
Riverview
One woman ticketed, another arrested during traffic stop
Police officers stopped a vehicle for defective equipment at the intersection of Sibley Road and Fort Street about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. When they made contact with the driver, police said the woman gave them a Michigan identification card but not a driver’s license.
She told police her license was suspended and she took care of the suspensions, but she had not paid the license reinstatement fee. The officers confirmed, with police dispatch, the license was invalid until the fee was paid and ticketed her for driving without a license.
The vehicle was towed and the driver was released with her son and another passenger at the scene. Police checked the last passenger’s information with police dispatch, who informed them she had a valid local warrant. She was arrested and processed for the warrant, but during processing officers found an empty pack of cigarettes that contained folded up aluminum foil. Officers opened and inspected the foil and found a brown residue, but not enough residue to test.
A bottle cap, swab and lighter also were found on the woman, police said. They asked the woman if she had heroin on her. She told police there was heroin in the foil and she had a syringe in her bra.
With her permission, the officer retrieved the syringe then called another officer to search the woman. No more drug paraphernalia was found on the woman, but she was ticketed for the possession.
Southgate
Vehicle windows smashed by vandals
Police responded to several calls on Saturday, Jan. 11 from vehicle owners reporting smashed windows, two of which were from the same street.
From the 12000 and 13000 blocks of Kerr, a man and woman reported separate incidents of having the driver’s side window of their vehicle smashed, likely by a rock or brick. Both incidents had taken place sometime after Friday night.
A similar report was taken by police at 11 a.m. from the 12000 block of Churchill, where a vehicle parked in a residential driveway was vandalized overnight.
Nothing appeared to have been stolen nor were the vehicle interiors or ignitions damaged.
Trenton
Alarm scares off burglar
Police responded to a resident’s call for what appeared to be an attempted home invasion in the 1800 block of Edsel.
The homeowner called 911 — as did a neighbor who heard the alarm sound — when he returned to find a window had been broken out.
Investigators noted a broken, double-pane window in a living room and glass on the floor. It did not appear anyone entered the home.
The homeowner told police he had been nearby when contacted by the alarm company. He went home, saw the broken window, and went upstairs to retrieve his handgun before calling police.
Officers followed a trail of footprints in the snow through the backyard. It appeared someone had climbed a fence and headed for a neighboring street.
A screen window also had been cut.
The man said nothing appeared to have been taken, but he would review and contact police.
Homeless man found unconscious in church
Police administered to a distraught man who was reportedly “going crazy” in the bathroom of a church in the 5600 block of Fort Street.
Officers responded to the call at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11, which said a man believed to be under the influence of drugs was being disruptive. Police located the 29-year-old man seated in the bathroom, “unconscious, groaning and struggling to breathe,” according to police reports. The man had a hypodermic needle in his left hand. At his feet was a beer bottle cap with drug residue.
The man was awakened after paramedics from the fire department arrived and administered drugs. According to the Law Enforcement Information Network, the man is believed to be “a Mexican Mafia gang member,” and had a “13” tattoo on his chest. Originally from Texas, the man said he was in Michigan with his wife, who recently passed away.
The man was treated at Southshore Hospital, and no criminal charges have been filed.
Wyandotte
Man arrested for public intoxication
A police officer noticed an intoxicated man walking north on Biddle Avenue near Cedar Street about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday. The man was swaying back and forth as he walked, police said, and tripped over his feet several times. The officer said the man struggled to stay on the sidewalk during questioning and struggled to stand on his own.
The man had scabs all over his face and told police he was a heroin addict who picks at his face when using heroin. Police said the man was a danger to himself and others due to his level of intoxication and arrested him. He was transported to the station and processed for public intoxication.
Rental property broken into
A property owner called police about 9 a.m. Monday when he checked on a rental property in the 750 block of Plum Street and found the back door appeared to be kicked in. He told police the property is currently unoccupied.
As officers searched and secured the property, they found the damage to the rear door and said it appeared the door had been forced open. They said there was damage to the doorjamb and locking mechanism and it appeared someone kicked in the door.
No other damage was found inside the home and the property owner said there was nothing missing from the home. There were no witnesses to the incident and a suspect was not located.
(Compiled by Gabriel Goodwin, James Mitchell and Bob Oliver.)