Forest Acres

tTwo Notch Road, 3900 block: A 67–year–old man called police at 7:30 a.m. Thursday after he realized his wallet was gone. The man told officers he mistakenly left his wallet on the check–out counter of the grocery store but turned around immediately to retrieve it. The clerk told him the man in line behind him picked up the wallet so the man found that man in the parking lot. That man denied picking up the wallet, but the wallet’s owner took down that man’s license plate for police. When they ran the plate, it came back as belonging to a Volkswagen and the accused wallet thief wasn’t driving a Volkswagen. Police got the registration and then viewed the grocery store’s surveillance tape that clearly showed the thief pocketing the older man’s wallet.

tForest Drive, 3000 block: Police were called to a restaurant at noon Friday after the employer realized an employee had taken more than $11,000 from the business. The employer said the employee had systematically been taking money from the bank deposits and leaving his personal check in place of the cash. The employer said he spoke to the employee several times telling him to stop that, but the man continued taking the money and leaving checks. Now all of the checks are being returned for insufficient funds. The employee has been terminated.

tCovenant Road, 3400 block: Police were called to a home at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after a woman said that her baby’s father assaulted her. The 21–year–old woman told officers that the 27–year–old man had come to collect his belongings and move out, and she was trying to talk to him. She said she pushed him away from the door as he tried to leave, and that’s when he took off his belt and began to beat her with it. She said that in self defense she began to hit him with a shoe. She said when she told him she was calling police he fled the scene. Later that day the man went to police headquarters and filled out a statement. He said he did lose his temper and hit her with his belt but not until after she hit him with her shoe. The woman said this is the third time he has hit her but the first time she reported it.

West Columbia

tF Avenue, 1000 block: A man called police at 2 p.m. Thursday after he said his boyfriend was trying to kill him. The man told officers he and the other man were breaking off their relationship and had been arguing all morning. He said that shortly before he called the police, the boyfriend got extremely angry and hit him in the face with a padlock and told him that he would kill him. He said the boyfriend then pushed him down a flight of steps and threw a telephone at him. When the man used the phone to call police, he said the boyfriend then got into his car and tried to run him over because he knew he was calling for help. The man declined to press charges and refused medical attention.

tMeeting Street, 700 block: It was a he–saidshe– said at a storage company at 11 p.m. Thursday after witnesses said a man attacked a woman with a crowbar. When officers arrived they found the 43–year–old woman obviously distraught, sweaty, and gasping for breath. She told them her boyfriend of almost three years had assaulted her when she tried to get her cell phone from him. She said she approached the 46–year–old man to get her phone from him, and he began hitting her with what witnesses said was a crowbar. She said she bit the man to try and stop the assault, but when police spoke to the man he denied attacking the woman and said she charged at him yelling about the phone and then bit his finger. Both the woman and the man each had a witness that backed up each story. Since there was no way to determine who started the brawl, no arrests were made.

tAugusta Road, 2300 block: A woman was arrested at 1 p.m. Wednesday after she was accused of shoplifting and searched by police. A store clerk told officers that the 43–year–old woman had put a box of body spray in her purse and was trying to leave the store without paying for it. The officer approached the woman who denied the accusation but did allow the officer to search her purse. He found two pair of stolen sunglasses the woman said she had simply placed in the purse in order to easily carry them through the store. Further searching revealed the body spray that the woman had denied having but upon discovery, she said she found the spray, and it was open so she thought it was free. All three items together were valued at $25.

tAugusta Road, 2000 block: Police arrested a woman at noon Wednesday after a patrol car noticed a small child in the back seat with its feet in the air. Officers pulled her over to check on the child and found another child in a baby seat, but the seat was in the front seat facing the dash, and it wasn’t restrained to the car. The 21–year–old driver readily admitted she didn’t have a driver’s license and a DMV check showed it had been suspended after the woman failed to pay three traffic tickets and had her insurance cancelled. The insurance company told police the policy was cancelled due to non–payment. The children’s father was called to pick them up, and the woman was taken to jail.