tSunset Blvd., 700 block: A man was arrested at 1 am Tuesday after police spotted him sleeping in his car while it was parked in an empty parking lot. He may have gotten away with the power nap, but he left his headlights on, which drew attention to his car. When officers approached the car, they found the 43–year–old man curled up in the driver’s seat with the car keys in his hand. They tried to wake him up by knocking on the car window, but the man slept on. The officers opened the unlocked door and shook the man to wake him, and he told them he was “just fine but really tired.” They asked him if he had been drinking since the car reeked of alcohol, and the man told them yes he had been drinking way too much to drive. The officers agreed and took him to jail.

tJackson Street, 800 block: Police arrested three men at 3:30 am Sunday after an officer noticed all three of them sleeping in a car. When the officer approached the car, the trio was sound asleep and hard to wake up. When the driver finally woke up, the officer asked him where he was, and he said Irmo. The two passengers had no idea of their whereabouts. All three were charged with public drunkenness.

tAugusta Road, 2400 block: A man was arrested at 2:30 am Tuesday after he stole some beer from an all–night store. Witnesses told police t the man grabbed a six–pack and ran out of the store after trying to buy the beer. He got into his car and sped out of the parking lot. Unfortunately for him, he whizzed past a police car, and the store manager had just called in the theft. The officer pulled the man over a few blocks from the store, and he admitted he had stolen the beer, but he said that he had to steal it because the store refused to sell it to him as it was after hours.

tAugusta Road, 2400 block: A woman was charged with shoplifting at a discount department store at 8:30 pm Tuesday. Store security guards told police the woman came into the cosmetic department and began to conceal various make–ups, eye shadows, face powders, and lipsticks in her oversized purse. After about two hours, she then tossed a few inexpensive items into her buggy and went through the check–out. She was detained and searched and store security found almost $1,000 worth of make–up in her purse. Her purchases were less than $20.

tMeeting Street, 700 block: Police arrested a man at 3 am Sunday after they spotted him stumbling down the street. As officers watched, the 44–year–old man tripped and fell several times. When they approached him and asked him what was going on, he told them he was too drunk to drive so he was walking home to Lexington. Since he could barely stand up, he was taken into custody.

Richland County

tCampground Road, 700 block: Police were called to a church Sunday after a woman was seen asking for a handout to get to her mother’s funeral in Tennessee. The woman asked the church to “loan” her $200 so she could attend the funeral. One man gave her $20 and began to question her. When pressed for the details, the woman couldn’t remember her mother’s name, the funeral home handling the service, or the town or county where her mother lived. When she realized someone had called police, the woman vanished. Further investigation revealed this was the second church where she had used this scam.

tTwo Notch Road, 7200 block: A man was arrested at 2 pm Monday after police pulled him over for an illegal right turn. As deputies approached the car, the driver got the bright idea to toss his drugs out of the passenger window, apparently in hopes they wouldn’t notice a gram of cocaine flying across the car, out the window, and on to the ground. When they retrieved the drugs, the driver then handed over his paraphernalia that he was trying to stuff under the seat. The sneaky 52–year–old man was charged with narcotics violation and taken to jail.

Forest Acres:

tForest Drive, 3000 block: A man called police at 3:30 pm Tuesday after he said he thought he may have been swindled. The 39–year–old man told officers he had met a man at a gas station who claimed to have just arrived from Africa, and the man was holding some driving directions that he said he couldn’t read. The driver said he couldn’t read the writing either but offered to take the man to his destination. They met another man, and the trio got into a conversation about trust. One of the men flashed almost $4000 in front of the driver and told him he would never use a bank because he didn’t trust people. The driver tried to convince the man that trusting in your fellow human beings was necessary so he took out $3000 in cash that he said he had withdrawn to pay his child support payments. In order to prove he trusted his two new pals he placed the cash on the console and went for a walk. When he returned to the car, all of the money and both of the men were gone.

tNorth Trenholm Road, 5000 block: Police were called to a school at 1 pm Monday after a student’s father allegedly threatened a school employee. The employee said she was watching two boys while they waited on their mothers to pick them up. She said one of the boys disappeared and when she went looking for him she found him with his father, whom she recognized. She told the boy to come with her and waited until the mother, who said she had sole custody of the child, to arrive. When the boy got into the mother’s car, the father approached the employee and began to shout and threaten her. The employee said that the father told her to stop interfering with him and his children and that if she did it again, “something bad” would happen to her.