Thursday 3/27, 7:55 p.m.
Officers responded to a radio dispatch alert concerning a family disturbance in the 5900 block of 37th Avenue South. The initial report indicated a relative at the home was armed with a knife.
At the home, officers spoke with a young man and his mother, who said his stepfather became angry that the young man did not contribute to the household expenses, singling out the light bill. The young man goes to a local college and does not have a job.
As the two argued, the young man told officers the stepfather became more agitated and obtained a large pocketknife.
"Any fool who comes in my face, I got something for him!" the stepfather yelled to his stepson.
Feeling threatened, the young man retreated to his room while his mother tried vainly to calm the older man down. The mother then called the police, which triggered the couple to argue and the stepfather to leave the house before the officers arrived.
However, officers managed to intercept the stepfather as he was leaving in his pickup truck. The officers recovered the pocketknife, arrested the man and took him to the South Precinct, where he was read his Miranda rights before being asked if he was willing to talk with officers.
The man agreed and said that he had just returned home from a church prayer meeting where he serves as the pastor. He added that he has been growing frustrated with his "deadbeat" stepson because "he contributes nothing to the house." The man said he grabbed the knife because the stepson had threatened him in the past and to assert that he would not let the stepson try and threaten him again.
Additionally, the man told officers he took his wife's wedding ring, valued at $4,000, and told her he was going to hang onto it for a while. The investigating officer deduced this was to serve as an item of value in lieu of not getting any money from her son to help pay the power bill.
Theft
Saturday 3/29, 6:58 p.m.
The owner of a restaurant in the 6000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way South called police after her tip jar was stolen.
Responding officers watched the surveillance video with the owner. In the video, two young women are seen sitting at a table adjacent to the service counter where the tip jar was located. The owner said the jar held approximately $400 in cash, which she said is typical for a Saturday night.
As one of the girls cased the tip jar, the other watched out for employees. Soon, the girl casing the jar grabbed it, and they both fled out the front door. The victim told officers she had never seen the girls before and believed they may have been working at the direction of an adult who was waiting outside.
Assault
Saturday 3/29, 11:16 p.m.
A 32-year-old man walked into the South Precinct and informed officers he was with two other men in their early 20s near the 3300 block of 27th Ave. S. the night before when an argument erupted between the three men. Soon the two younger men came to blows, and the older man attempted to stop the fight by getting between the fighters.
The move backfired, and both fighters began assaulting the victim. One of the assailants used a stick to beat the victim, who was knocked to the ground and briefly lost consciousness.
When he came to, the victim saw a pair of car headlights coming toward him. He got out of the way of the 1999 Ford Explorer and watched it as it fled in an unknown direction.
A separate report from the evening details a different version of events. In this second report, officers who responded to the scene noted that the victim was extremely intoxicated at the time of the incident and was attempting to get into the Explorer and drive away. However, two of his friends, the ones he reported assaulting him, tried to stop him from driving drunk, but the man fought with them.
Drugs
Monday 3/31, 1:53 p.m.
An officer who was patrolling near the intersection of South Othello Street and 46th Avenue South spotted a 14-year-old boy whom he recognized as having an outstanding juvenile felony drug warrant. The officer contacted the boy, verified the warrant with the dispatcher, and took him into custody without incident.
During a search of the boy's clothing after his arrest, the officer discovered 4.1 grams of marijuana in a plastic bag in the boy's front-right pants pocket. The officer also found a $10 bill in his wallet that "didn't feel like real money."
The officer noted the bill had no transparent watermarks and lacked the "USA 10" strip found embedded inside such legal currency. The bill, along with the marijuana, was placed into evidence.[[In-content Ad]]