Police Reports

Effingham County Sheriff’s Office

• A Deputy was dispatched to a Faulkville residence where a man
indicated that he’d found a bone in his yard. The man said he’s had
other occasions where someone had thrown raw chicken into his yard,
and his German Shepherd had gotten sick from eating it. On this day,
he walked out into the yard and found his dog chewing on this jointed
bone with meat still attached. The Deputy took the bone to Effingham
Hospital where it was determined the bone was not human. (Well at
least it has a happy ending!)
• A Deputy arrived at the scene of an accident with a truck in a
ditch on Ziegler Road in Faulkville. Firemen on the scene pointed to
the driver still inside the truck and said the man was swallowing
pills and hiding them inside his jacket. The firefighters helped the
driver out through the driver’s side window. The man said he was
okay, and the Deputy advised him to remain calm. He then searched the
man’s pockets and recovered several pills. He was cited for DUI Drugs
and possession of drugs that are legal when in their original container.
• Around 4am, a Deputy was southbound on Hwy 21 when he spotted a
silver Monte Carlo weaving on Hwy 21. He made a traffic stop and
spoke to the driver. Smelling the odor of burnt marijuana, he asked
the man if he’d smoked any marijuana that night. The man said he
hadn’t, not realizing he still had flakes of pot on his white t-
shirt. He was arrested for DUI-Drugs.
• At 2:30am, a Deputy was dispatched to Paddleford Subdivision where
he found two men and two juvenile girls messing with the power boxes.
The men said they’d met the women online on the myspace.com website.
The men believed the girls were sixteen and seventeen years old. When
Deputies told them their real age, the men begged forgiveness. They
were ordered to return to their Savannah homes and not come back.
The girls were taken back to one of their fathers, who wasn’t very
happy about being woken up by a Deputy at 3am. He promised he’d take
care of the situation. (“I can see them Hot Wheel strips coming!”-
Tom, a fellow 11 year old who got caught with me and five others when
we were camping out many years ago and got picked up by Police while
we were rummaging around the Winn-Dixie Store. I saw my dad’s face
when I read this Police Report. He wasn’t very happy either, and
promised I’d be cutting the grass the next day with a pair of
scissors. Tom, a pretty funny guy, quickly added “Make him rake it
with a fork!” Tom and the other guys never got in any trouble for
that night, either. Just me.)
• Just after 2am, a Deputy spotted a man riding his bicycle down the
middle of Hwy 21 in Springfield without any lights on his bike. The
Deputy stopped the man and immediately noticed the odor of alcohol on
the man’s breath. He was arrested for public intoxication after
registering a .210 and climbing test result.
• A Deputy was dispatched to a neighborhood where a man complained
about a man riding his motorcycle around and starting fights with
people regarding fireworks. The Deputy found the man on the
motorcycle, who was highly intoxicated and a little on the
belligerent side. He was arrested for DUI, disorderly conduct, and
driving while suspended.
• Deputies responded to a Guyton residence for a domestic dispute. A
man said his live-in girlfriend had gotten upset when she caught him
talking on his phone to his ex-wife, and got mad when he wouldn’t
hang up when she told him too. (As my ex- used to say... “Men, you
cain’t live with ‘em and you cain’t shoot ‘em!”)
• A young man told Deputies he was riding his skateboard in front of
his house when a white Mercury Grand Marquis pulled up. A man got out
with a pistol in his hand and told him to empty his pockets. The boy
said the man took his cell phone, and he gave him a music CD. He also
recognized the driver, who dates a girl who lives in the
neighborhood. (He needs his tail locked up! And his buddy, too!)
• Deputies responded to a residence where a man pointed to two
intoxicated subjects who were arguing. The Deputies took them back to
their residence and noticed that the front door had been struck
several times with an axe or a hatchet. Both subjects were then taken
into custody on charges of public intoxication.
• A Faulkville woman called Deputies when she found that someone had
pushed over her basketball goal in her driveway. She said she’s been
having trouble with her neighbors and suspects they were involved.
• Deputies responded to a residence in regards to an unruly juvenile.
The woman said she was having trouble with her son. She was trying to
remove his TV from his room, and he wouldn’t let her. The boy’s been
kicked out of school and most recently was banned from the church
youth group because he was caught stealing at Savannah Mall. The
Deputy tried talking with the boy, who kept trying to divert
attention to someone else’s imperfections. The boy seemed to think he
shouldn’t be held accountable for his actions because they were first
offenses. The Deputy contacted the Department of Juvenile Justice and
they suggested leaving the boy with his mother until his upcoming
court appearance. (Put him in the yard, let him cut the grass with a
pair of scissors and rake it with a fork!)

Garden City

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Bryan County Sheriff’s Department

• Around 9:30pm, a Deputy spotted a white Ford Explorer that pulled
out northbound onto Hwy 17 in the southbound lane of traffic. The
Deputy got behind it and activated his emergency lights. He saw
numerous vehicles slam on brakes and swerve out of the Explorer’s
way. The driver finally pulled to a stop in the median. The man
admitted he only had a Mexican driver’s license, and didn’t have it
with him. He was arrested for no driver’s license and reckless
driving. He was allowed to post a cash bond and the Explorer was
towed from the scene. The man was then transported to a local hotel.
(You should have taken him a lot further south than that!)
• A man told Deputies he came home and found his front door open,
with pornographic magazines torn up and the pages laying all over the
home. Some pictures had been glued in the windows. (Can I get the
number to your remodeling contractor?)

Rincon

• Police responded to a newly opened drug store in reference to
someone passing a bad check. The check was for a total of nearly
$2000 for the purchase of several electronics items. Eight hours
after taking the report, the Officer got a call from the Camden
County jail. A Deputy had stopped the offender on a traffic
violation, and then found several ID’s, checks, merchandise, and
sales receipts. They called Rincon Police based on the sales receipt
from the drug store. The offender will be charged with forgery and
producing counterfeit checks. They’ve also got the surveillance video
of the man making the purchase to present to the judge.
• An Officer responded to the Lowe’s parking lot on a report of
damage to a truck. A woman had parked next to the man’s Yukon and
opened her door when the wind blew and caused her door to strike his
Yukon.
• Just before 7pm, an Officer was on his way back to Rincon from the
Effingham County jail when he spotted a car rolling backwards towards
Hwy 21. The Officer pulled over to see if the driver needed any help,
and he then noticed the orange glow coming from the passenger side
front tire. The man was standing in the right hand lane of Hwy 21
with a towel on his head and told him he was “driving down the road
and my car was on fire.” The Officer noticed the odor of alcohol on
the man’s breath and called for the Fire Department and Sheriff’s
Deputies to respond.

Pooler

• A Garden City man was eastbound on Hwy 80 in his Ford pickup with a
friend when a Jeep Wrangler pulled out in front of him. The Jeep
slowed almost to a stop and then came to a stop, nearly causing a
collision. The Jeep then accelerated up to 30mph, and the man
continued to follow behind him on his way to Garden City. The Jeep
again slowed and stopped suddenly, and the man rear-ended him. The
man said he passed the Jeep and called 911 at that time. The driver
of the Jeep then followed him into a convenience store parking lot
and pointed a shotgun at him. Officers got both men stopped, at
different locations, and the driver of the Jeep was taken to jail on
charges of DUI, reckless driving, pointing a gun at another person,
and disorderly conduct.
• Officers responded to a Pooler hotel just before the New Year, and
the desk clerk explained that she’d found a woman passed out in the
lobby. She allowed the woman to stay in suite #111 when she realized
the woman knew the owner. The next night, the woman’s mother
purchased another room for her. During that night, the clerk received
complaints about the noise coming from suite #111, which was supposed
to be empty at this time. The woman and her boyfriend had deadbolted
the door preventing the clerk from getting inside. They also took the
phone off the hook so she couldn’t call them. Officers found the two
sitting outside by a side entrance, drinking and smoking. The
boyfriend was underage, and he was arrested for possession of alcohol
and theft of services for the hotel room. The woman was arrested for
contributing to the delinquency of a minor and theft of services.
• An Officer responded to the Piggly Wiggly in reference to a case of
forgery and stolen checks. The manager explained that a man had gone
through the first checkout line and passed a forged check that she
later discovered was stolen. She turned over the video surveillance
tape of the Florida man while he was at the register. The Officer was
contacted a short time later by the Savannah woman who the checks
were stolen from. About three hours after that, he received a
dispatch to return to the grocery store, where the man had returned
and was trying to cash another of the bad checks. The manager had
flagged the checking account number, and the cashier was delaying the
man until the Officer arrived. When he spotted him coming, the man
tried to exit through the western door, and the Officer caught him in
the parking lot. He detained him on suspicion of robbery, and then
arrested him after finding two women’s driver’s licenses and more of
the bad checks in his possession. He’s charged with forgery and
possession of stolen property. Police are still trying to locate his
female accomplice.
• Just after 3am, an Officer was on routine patrol on Hwy 80 when he
spotted a purple Nissan Altima eastbound in the westbound lane of Hwy
80. He activated his emergency equipment to try and get behind the
car, but the driver turned into the parking lot of Don’s BBQ and then
tried to jump the ditch along eastbound Hwy 80. The Nissan didn’t
make it, coming up just short of the highway. The driver jumped out
the door and fled on foot into the adjoining neighborhood. The owner
of the car was traced to a Savannah woman. The Officer called her and
she said her car had been stolen in Orangeburg, South Carolina. She
was advised to contact Police there and file a report. The Nissan was
towed and a hold placed on the car. (Just another in a long line of
stories of people going the wrong way on that road, except that htis
one was driven by an Evel Kneivel wannabe!)
• An Officer was eastbound on Hwy 80 just after 2am after exiting the
Pooler Parkway. He noticed a Dodge Ram pickup ahead of him weaving
over the lane lines. He began to pace the truck and clocked it at
48mph as it entered the 35mph zone. He made a traffic stop and the
Faulkville man was arrested for DUI.
• An Officer was advised by his supervisor of a blue motocross
motorcycle with two subjects on it, neither of whom was wearing a
helmet. The Officer spotted the bike on Rothwell, and followed as it
turned onto Skinner northbound. The pair then turned west on Salter
Street and ran the stop sign at Morgan Street. The Officer stopped
his pursuit as they crossed Rogers Street and drove through the
Trinity UMC parking lot onto Benton, and then turned off down the
Canal Access Road. (I’ll get a notice from Strickland’s about the
driver one day...)
• Meanwhile... at another grocery store across town... a customer
told the manager about a shoplifter loading up five or six bundles of
firewood into the back of a black Expedition. The customer wrote down
the tag number, which returned to an Effingham woman. Deputies there
went to the home on record, but the woman was no longer residing there.
• At 11:30pm, an Officer clocked a green Chevy Blazer at 96mph in the
50mph zone of Hwy 80 near Old Louisville Road. He made a traffic
stop, and the Bluffton man handed over his Mexican ID card. He was
soon on his way to jail for driving while unlicensed and reckless
driving.
• A couple from Leesburg, Georgia had been set up in the parking lot
of a convenience store selling produce and fruits from 2pm until
about 4:30pm. The woman then discovered her red and black Georgia
Bulldawgs purse, along with $1200 cash, was missing. They suspect a
woman in a silver mini-van who stopped by about three times may have
taken the purse.
• A Jacksonville, North Carolina woman walked out of her hotel and
noticed the woman pushing an older woman in a wheelchair across the
driveway. The older woman was telling the care provider to stop as
her feet were being drug along in front of the wheelchair and it was
hurting her. The Officer responded and spoke with the woman behind
the victim. She was surprised that anyone would have called as she’d
“done nothing wrong.” The Officer asked her to lift the victim’s legs
to see if she had any injuries to the bottom of her feet. The woman
“walked over to the victim and snatched her legs up, causing the
victim to moan loudly.” The Officer advised her to be more gentle,
and the woman state that she “knew how to do her job and she wasn’t
mistreating anyone.” The Officer attempted to make contact with the
victim’s daughter but got a disconnected number. The woman refused to
provide any company name, saying that she’d been hired privately and
worked for herself. No charges were filed against the woman. (...who
ought to be drug through the briar patch barefooted in my opinion!)
• An Officer stopped a man for having a defective headlight as he
turned from Pooler Parkway onto Pine Barren Road. The man was
arrested for driving while suspended.
• A Bloomingdale man was westbound on Hwy 80 when a pizza deliver
driver sped around him and cut him off. He felt her supervisor should
be told about her poor driving skills, so he stopped in the pizza
parlor to speak with the manager. The manager ignored the man and
didn’t walk up to the counter to hear the man’s complaint.
Frustrated, he slammed his fist down on the counter and broke a
plastic sign. As the man walked outside, the female driver followed
behind him, cursing him. When the man’s daughter, who’d been a
passenger in the car, saw this, she went to get between the young
woman and her father. Then another employee came outside and pushed
the man, causing him to fall and hit his head on the concrete parking
block. The manager then came outside and told the man and his
daughter they were no longer allowed at the business. The Officer who
responded did not file any charges due to the number of conflicting
reports. The man was taken by Medstar to Candler Hospital for
treatment for the abrasions to his head.
• Officers responded toa residence in regards to an open fire burning
in the yard. One Officer contacted the fire Chief who said a burn
permit had not been issued for the home. With winds blowing at 10 to
15 knots, the Officer called the Fire Department to come extinguish
the fire. The homeowner’s wife was given a subpoena for court for
burning without a permit. The husband called later and said he hadn’t
burned anything. He’d evicted a man who’d been living at the home
with them for creating a disturbance. He believes that man is the one
who set the fire in his yard.
• A woman filed a Police report after she began drinking the soft
drink she’d purchased at a local fast food business, and swallowed
some plastic parts from the drink dispenser. (Talk about a Big Gulp!)
• A Florida woman called Police and said she’d stopped at a Pooler
fast food business for a hamburger. When she got home to Florida, she
realized her purse was missing from her car, along with $600 worth of
jewelry.
• An Officer made a traffic stop on a Mercury Sable on Pooler Parkway
when he noticed the license plate was expired. The driver was taken
into custody on a warrant from Effingham County for contempt of court.
• A convenience store owner has turned a woman over to Police for
writing bad checks, three of them each for $800. She’d sent the
necessary certified letter asking the woman to make the checks good.
The letters were returned as undeliverable.
• An Officer was contacted by the School Officer, who asked him to
handle the following case. An employee was outside making sure the
morning drop offs were running smoothly when a woman began passing
other cars that were waiting in line, nearly colliding with one
vehicle. The teacher went over and advised the woman she needed to
stay in line. The woman informed him she was just pulling in to park,
and the teacher maintained that she would still have to wait on the
other cars. She decided to park anyway. Then, when she came back out,
she was going the wrong way, and the teacher again stopped the woman
and told her she’d have to wait on the busses to leave. He stepped in
front of her car to prevent her from cutting in front of the busses,
and the woman bumped him with her car, ...three times. He finally
stepped to the side and the woman accelerated on by him, striking him
with her passenger side mirror. The Officer then contacted the woman,
who explained that she doesn’t normally take her child to school and
wasn’t familiar with the procedures. The Officer was unable to speak
with the teacher, taking all of his information from the School
Officer until the teacher has been treated for his injuries. The
incident is still under investigation as other witnesses will still
need to be contacted. (God Bless You Teachers. As if dealing with our
kids these days isn’t enough! I’m just guessing that I’ve probably
bumped into this lady in line at the grocery store. She cut in front
of me and three other buggy-loaded customers...)
• Around 8am, an Office was eastbound o Hwy 80 near the Pooler
Parkway when he ran a check on the license plate of a Mitsubishi
Lancer. Dispatch advised that the car’s registration was cancelled
due to no insurance. He made a traffic stop, and the driver handed
over her insurance card showing that she’d renewed her insurance back
in October. The Officer then called the phone number on the card, and
was told she’d indeed bought the insurance in October, and they’d
cancelled it in November. She was able to get a family member to pick
her up while her car was towed with a hold placed on it for valid
insurance and registration. (Nice try lady!)
• Between 4pm and 5pm, an out of town couple stopped at a restaurant
along I-95 for dinner. When they returned to their Chevy Tahoe, the
passenger side window had been busted out and their $500 GPS system
was missing. The thief also found the woman’s pocketbook beneath the
front passenger seat, and he got that and $230 cash as well.
• Would the older man that pumped $65.01 worth of gas into his older
model red and gold Ford pickup please return to the Flash Food and
pay for your gas?
• Around 8:30pm, a Pooler man happened to notice a Bloomingdale woman
laying on the side of the road, rolling around in the grass. He
called 911, and the Officers responded to the extremely intoxicated
woman. She said she’d been thrown out of a van by her boyfriend.
Medstar responded and transported her to Memorial Hospital for
treatment.
• A Florida woman stopped in Pooler for gas just after the New Year.
Of course, somebody broke into her car while she was inside paying
and they stole her purse. She didn’t realize it until several miles
down the interstate, and she returned to see if anyone had turned it
in. She mainly wanted a report so she could get a new Florida license.
• The City of Pooler Water Department alerted Officers to a
constrution crew that had tapped into the water line by removing the
lock. They’d been told they would need a city meter to measure the
amount of water they used so they could be billed for it. The City
Inspector said he’d warned them about it twice before. He’s now
placed a Stop Work order at the site until the contractor pays for
the stolen water and obtains the necessary permits.

Port Wentworth

• A man called Police from Indiana and said he’d stayed at a local
hotel in mid-December. He then went to Charleston, and on Christmas
Eve he realized he’d left his $400 digital camera at the Port
Wentworth hotel. He called and an employee said they’d recovered it
and would be sending it to him FedEx. When it still didn’t arrive, he
called the hotel again and asked to speak with the employee he’d
spoken to before. She no longer worked there, and other employees
verified that she’d had the camera in her custody before she quit
suddenly. The incident is under investigation by detectives.
• An Officer observed as a gray Chevy pickup came to a stop in the
middle of the exit ramp from I-95 to Hwy 21. The driver then turned
north on Hwy 21, and the Officer followed, noting as the driver
veered over onto the paved median. They both turned onto Hwy 30, and
the Officer made a traffic stop when the pickup was travelling below
40mph in the 55mph zone. The driver said instantly that he’d been on
his cell phone making a call to India, trying to explain his weaving
on Hwy 21. He insisted on showing the Officer his cell phone to prove
he was telling the truth. The Officer, however, insisted on the man
taking a field sobriety test because he smelled alcohol on the man’s
breath. The man stopped midway through the heel to toe test, put his
hands behind his back and said “You can go ahead and arrest me now.
I’m drunk.” He was arrested for DUI.
• Just before 10pm, an Officer was dispatched to a Hwy 25 residence
where a Jeep Cherokee had run off the road into the man’s front yard
and was “just sitting there.” When the Officer arrived, the homeowner
said the driver had backed out and taken off south. The Officer went
looking for him, southbound on Turnberry Street. Suddenly the Jeep
was heading straight for him northbound. The Officer had to swerve
off the road to avoid the head on collission. The Officer turned
around and got the man to stop on Hwy 25. He walked up to the
driver’s side window and could smell the alcohol, even though the
door was closed and the windows were rolled up. He had to knock on
the window to get the driver to acknowledge him standing there. He
finally rolled the window down, and the Officer asked the man for his
license. The man then reached inside his already-open fly before
pulling his hand out and mumbling that he didn’t have a license. He
was arrested for DUI, but refused to take any field sobriety tests on
the grounds that he didn’t speak no good English. On the way to jail,
the man began yelling to get the Officer’s attention. The Officer
turned down his radio and the man said “No rap music!” Once at jail,
the man had no problem talking to the booking Deputy in English. (If
he don’t like rap music, he can’t be all bad!)
• Just after 4am, an Officer observed a Toyota Camry at a slow rate
of speed veering over the fog line on Hwy 30. He made a traffic stop,
and the man said he’d just gotten off work and had stopped by a
friend’s house and had a couple of drinks. He was then arrested for
driving while suspended, as his license was for driving to and from
work, school, and for medical treatment only. He was also charged
with DUI.
• Shortly after midnight, an Officer clocked a Ford pickup at 70mph
in a 55mph zone of Hwy 30. The driver was arrested for DUI and his
passengers were cited for open container.
• Not long after 1am, Officers responded to a residence where a man
said his girlfriend had called 911 because of a verbal altercation.
The man let him inside to speak with the woman, but all she could
tell him was that she wanted her boyfriend to go to jail. The Officer
kept trying to get her to explain why she wanted him arrested, what
he’d done to deserve going to jail. The woman got upset with the
Officer because he wouldn’t do what she wanted. She finally told him
her boyfriend had broke her cell phone when she tried to call 911.
The boyfriend said he hadn’t broken her phone, that the display on
her phone wasn’t working. He then showed the Officer how he’d let her
use his phone to call 911. Both parties agreed to remain separated
for the rest of the night.
• Just before 6am, an Officer stopped a gray Mazda with an expired
tag, and smelled alcohol on the woman’s breath. She was arrested for
DUI, and she asked him to turn her car over to her passenger. Her
passenger told him she was too drunk to drive, so the car had to be
towed. The passenger was cited for open container.
• An off-duty Savannah Officer had stopped to gas up at a convenience
store on Hwy 21 at I-95. While there, he saw a man exit the store
with a cigar. The man emptied the tobacco from the cigar and then sat
in his Mazda for a while. The Officer called Dispatch and asked for a
Port Wentworth Officer as he’d seen the man packing marijuana into
the cigar. The Officer pulled in just as the offender was pulling
out. The Savannah Officer pointed to the Mazda, and the Officer
stopped him down the highway. The man was arrested for possession of
marijuana and driving with no license.