Mug Shots

The following were taken from actual incident reports filed last week by the City of Charleston Police Department. These are not convictions and the names of businesses, complainants, and suspects have been left off to protect the innocent. All suspects are  innocent until proven guilty, of course.
July 23
Criminal domestic violence – simple assault
A woman at a Hazelwood Drive apartment said that a verbal argument with a man escalated into a violent confrontation. The woman said she has a child with the man and a sexual relationship where he stays with her five or six days a week.
July 23
Criminal domestic violence – simple assault
An employee at a West Ashley hospital told police she’d seen a man jump into her co-worker’s car as it was driving through the parking lot and begin beating and choking the co-worker. When police arrived, the man exited the car, and told officers that they’d had an argument about his visiting their daughter, but denied any violence. He was arrested.
July 23
Theft from a motor vehicle
The owner of a local landscaping firm said someone had broken into one of his trucks parked overnight along Beechwood Drive. Missing were five chainsaws and a leaf blower valued collectively at $2,600.
July 23
Injured party
A clerk at an Ashley Crossing Drive shoe store called police after a female customer began acting strangely. The woman had brought up to the counter a pair of shoes to find out how much it cost. Once informed of the price, the woman launched into a complaint of how large her hospital bill was as if, according to the clerk, the woman was still in the hospital. When police arrived, the woman was looking at another pair of shoes, and said she hadn’t been acting like herself since a recent kidney surgery. The woman was taken back to the hospital for further evaluation.
July 23
All other larceny
The manager of a Sam Rittenberg grocery store reported missing a $6,000 deep fryer. Upon reviewing surveillance camera footage, he spotted two men loading the fryer into the back of a truck in the middle of the night a few days prior.
July 24
Embezzlement
A manager at a Sam Rittenberg McDonald’s called her boss late at night, saying that the next two mangers coming in later the next morning to replace her “are gonna be upset when they come in” because “they won’t be able to run the store.” And then, apparently, that manager walked out of the store and into a waiting cab and left. The general manager came in and checked the surveillance camera tape and found that the manager had earlier entered the office where the safe is located, placed a piece of paper over the camera lens for a few minutes, and then removed the paper and left.
July 24
Breaking and entering
A Sam Rittenberg jewelry store manager discovered that someone had kicked in the store’s glass front door and made off with a raft of wedding bands. The missing 30-plus bands were display models and samples worth a little more than $2,300.
July 24
Shoplifting
A couple was spotted placing a $99 jigsaw into the woman’s purse and leaving a Magwood Drive hardware store without paying for it. When a police officer approached the couple, the man bolted, running into nearby woods. The woman cooperated, leading the officer to a car where she had a purse containing not only her drivers’ license, but also apparently the fleeing man’s identification.
July 24
Shoplifting
A balding middle-aged man walked into an Ashley River Road convenience store, grabbed a case of beer from the cooler and approached the counter. Once at the counter, the man said he had no intention of paying for the beer, and that he and the manager had an agreement whereby he could come back later and pay off his debts. The clerk refused to accept the deal. “I’m taking this beer and you can call the cops,” said the man, adding that he didn’t “care if I have to go to jail for [30] days.”