July 5
DUI
Failure to maintain lane
Possession of open alcohol container
A deputy was on patrol on Kolic Helmey Road when he saw a pickup in front of him edge off the road. The pickup driver signaled to turn left, and the deputy hit his blue lights, but the pickup driver continued his turn. The deputy turned on his spotlight, and the pickup driver slowed down but continued to proceed, pulling over only after the deputy turned on his siren.
As he approached the driver side window, the deputy smelled alcohol and saw an open bottle of whiskey on the passenger side floor. The driver’s speech was slurred and he stumbled over his words as he spoke. The driver said he was coming from a friend’s house, where he had fallen asleep, and was going home. The driver acknowledged he had been drinking and said he had not had too much to drive.
The driver agreed to take a standard field sobriety test and had to be told not to reach into his pockets, which he did several times before complying. After failed attempts on keeping his balance, the driver said he was upset with his performance and may have made a bad decision that night.
He was placed under arrest and his breathalyzer tests came back with readings of .246 and .234 blood alcohol content. During the trip to the jail, the driver began a conversation and told the deputy this was a long time coming. He then became belligerent and accused the deputy of ruining his life.
July 5
Domestic dispute
A man told a responding deputy that his stepson had “gone crazy” and he needed someone to stop the situation. Once inside the house, the deputy met with the wife and stepson. Initially, the wife did not wish to discuss the issue. The complainant said his wife went upstairs and an argument between her and her son began, and he called deputies after hearing something slam on the floor.
The son said his mother disagreed with how he was raising his children and when she heard him disciplining his son, she came into the bathroom and started yelling at him. He said she shoved him out of the bathroom and locked the door. When she came out, he was “smart” with her. She became more upset and turned over a bedroom dresser.
The wife then told the deputy she became upset when her son left his children in the bath by themselves. She said an argument took place but it never became physical. She said the dresser was flimsy and it fell over when she touched it. She got upset and said it fell over after he accused her of allowing him to be abused as a child. The deputy told both parties to stay away from each other until they could down and resolve the issue.
July 5
Theft by taking
A couple that went out of state returned to find their bedroom door unlocked. They told deputies they secured all of their belongings in their residence and secured their vehicles parked in the yard before leaving. They said a man who lived with them admitted to entering their bedroom without permission and took the keys to the man’s vehicle. The couple said they knew the vehicle had been driven in their absence because it was not parked where they left it.
Deputies made contact with the suspect, who said he took the car to Pooler to get something to eat and said he did not know what he had done with the keys. The suspect’s girlfriend found the keys in a common area of the dwelling and the victims said they had kept the keys in their bedroom before leaving. The suspect was arrested and charged.
July 5
Disorderly conduct
A woman told deputies that she came home and found her residence a mess and there was some property damage. She said when she walked into the bedroom, she could smell urine and the sheets appeared to have been soiled. There was food on the living room floor, peanuts scattered throughout and a glass jar had been broken and scattered on the kitchen floor.
The offender was asleep when she got home, the complainant told deputies. Deputies spoke with him, and he appeared to be intoxicated. Deputies could smell alcohol, and he told them he had been in Savannah with his parents to celebrate July 4th. He said he was brought home and fell asleep. The food, the urine and the soiled sheets must have been the work of their two bulldogs, he said. The two parties said they would stay in their bedrooms for the remainder of the evening and attempt to resolve their differences later.
A few minutes later, deputies were called back out. The complainant said she went into her bedroom, and the offender became argumentative, striking her door with his fist. He walked into the living room with a bedsheet and said she had a poured a jug of water on him while he was in his bed after the deputies left. Both parties continued arguing and threatening each other. A deputy asked them multiple times to calm down to no avail. The woman and the man eventually were arrested.
July 5
Animal complaint
Deputies were called out for a dog bite in a Guyton neighborhood. A man said he was out jogging with his son on a skateboard behind him, when his son said a neighbor’s dog bit him. The son said he was going past a neighbor’s yard, where a black pit bulldog was, but the dog was not acting aggressively. The dog ran up and bit the child, who had four lacerations to his lower right leg.
The dog’s owner said his dog did not bite the child. He said the dog run up to the child in a playful mood and swatted at him with his paw, breaking his skin. The deputy did not observe the dog to be acting aggressively and he advised the owner to keep the dog from roaming the neighborhood. The owner said the dog usually stays in the house.
July 4
Alarm call
Deputies responded to a Springfield church after an alarm there went off. Dispatch informed a deputy en route that a man was there but had given the incorrect password to the alarm company. Upon arrival, a deputy checked the premises and noticed several cars in the parking lot that appeared to have been there for some time. A deputy checked the main church building doors and discovered several were unlocked. The interior of the building appeared to be intact, as did the interior of a secondary building near the parked vehicles.
Dispatch told deputies all attempts to notify someone with a key had failed, and because of the doors’ design, deputies were unable to secure them before leaving. A deputy continued to patrol the area throughout the night.
July 4
Drug related
A teenage boy was walking in Goshen Commercial Park when he saw a dollar bill on the ground. He found what he believed to be marijuana tucked inside the bill, prompting a call to deputies.
July 4
Loitering or prowling
A deputy was en route to another call when he saw a car parked behind construction dumpsters. The car was parked in a manner that the driver did not want passing drivers to see it. The subdivision only had homes under construction, and the deputy thought someone may be trying to vandalize the homes or steal from the construction sites. When the deputy returned from his other call, the car was still there but had turned around. There also was a bunch of wood stacked in the back seat. He also a saw black butane torch in the front seat, which the deputy suspected was being used to smoke crack or meth.
A man appeared from behind one of the unfinished houses and was carrying two pieces of wood, telling the deputy he had permission from the contractor to “dumpster dive” for scrap wood. The man first failed to identify the contractor correctly, someone the deputy knew, and the wood found in his car was found to be usable and not scrap.
July 3
Burglary-second degree
Theft by taking
A Guyton woman said she went to her unlocked vehicle and noticed items were missing. The deputy left to patrol the area and was flagged down by another resident, who said her daughter had come home late that night and heard something in the bushes by the front of the house. The daughter went back to her car and when she got out of it again, she said she heard something that sounded like a person running through the woods and vomiting. The deputy checked the bushes and found a window screen had been removed.
The deputy left but was called back after another resident found a woman’s wallet, a phone charger and a perfume sample while walking her dog.
July 2
Criminal damage to property
A man and a woman came to the sheriff’s office to say his ex-girlfriend had rammed their car from behind last night. They didn’t report the incident then because they didn’t want the other woman to go to jail. They filed a report, hoping to get a restraining order against her.
The ex-girlfriend called deputies the day before and when deputies were on their way, she was following her ex in her vehicle. She told deputies her ex had her phone and owed her $200. She said she confronted him, and he became irate, grabbing her by the neck and chest and ripping her shirt. He got into a car with another woman and left.
She said as she followed them, their car braked hard, causing her vehicle to strike the rear of their car, causing very, very minor damage. When both cars stopped, her ex got out and started kicking her car. Deputies saw small dents on the car and that a small piece of the front passenger side headlight lens was cracked and missing.
July 2
Found property
While driving to another call, a deputy found a .40-caliber pistol, with two damaged magazines, a brown leather holster and 20 rounds of ammunition on the road.
July 2
Robbery
Deputies were summoned to a Springfield intersection, where they found a man sitting on the grass, bleeding. Witnesses said he was dragged from a home about 50 yards away, hanging onto the side of a vehicle. The man was uncooperative and only said the two women in the car had taken $220 from him, adding, “they know who they are.”
July 2
Fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer
Obstruction of a law enforcement officer
Reckless driving
Possession of a schedule II controlled substance
Possession and use of drug-related objects
A deputy was stationed on Old River Road when a driver not wearing a seat belt passed by. The vehicle also was crossing the center line, and the deputy went after the car. As he turned onto I-16 eastbound, he turned on his lights to initiate a traffic stop. The suspect vehicle turned on its blinker and moved to the right-hand lane but as the deputy got behind the car, the driver then went into the left lane and accelerated. The deputy notified dispatch he was beginning a pursuit and was headed to the off ramp at Bloomingdale Road.
A Bloomingdale officer said he was nearby, and state troopers also were notified. Troopers were placing a spike strip at Highway 17 and Little Neck Road. The suspect vehicle continued on Bloomingdale Road and was all over the road, heading toward Highway 17 at a high rate of speed. While approaching 17, the driver appeared to notice the blue lights ahead and turned onto Al Henderson Boulevard. The pursuing deputy saw the passenger door open, as if the passenger was trying to get out on foot.
The vehicle turned around and headed toward Bloomingdale, and the deputy slowed down to allow state troopers to take the lead in the pursuit. The driver reached 90 mph on wet roads. The state patrol put out more spike strips at Bloomingdale Road and I-16, and the suspect hit those, with the car slowing and the passenger jumping out of the car. The driver also jumped out and started running, crossing westbound traffic on I-16.
The deputy and several troopers chased the driver into the woodline, and a state trooper subdued the driver with a taser. A trooper searched the suspect and found what appeared to be crystal meth. The driver also had a suspended license.
A Bloomingdale K-9 officer found a nylon bag in the car, with a digital scale that appeared to have white residue on it. The deputy met with the car’s owner, who had been in the back seat with her small child. She said the driver was her mechanic and she guessed they ran because they had drugs on them. She said the driver told her he was going to pick up a friend at an Eden gas station and that before he fled from the deputy, he told everybody to hold on. She said she did not know anything about the passenger they picked up since she had met only the night before. The driver also began to give a false name to deputies, even after a trooper had his ID with his picture on it.
Units from Bloomingdale Police and Savannah-Chatham Metro, including a helicopter, began to search for the missing passenger. While being taken to the Effingham County Jail, the driver told the deputy the meth was not his and they had better find that “white boy” because he had more drugs on him. The driver was issued several citations and he told the deputy, “You better not write me any (expletive) (expletive) tickets, (racial pejorative).”
After reviewing files on the driver, it was found he was a well-known drug dealer and had been in jail previously for drug charges.
July 2
Damaged property
Deputies went to a Rincon residence where a young woman said a tree fell on her pickup. She said she was inside her grandparents’ home when she heard a loud crash. She went outside and saw a large tree she had parked next to had snapped in the middle, falling on top of her vehicle. The Rincon Fire Department cut off the top part of the tree blocking the home’s front door but could not cut the rest of the tree from the truck.
July 1
Animal complaint
A deputy was called to the emergency room where a woman said her grandson had sustained a dog bite. She said she was washing the car and the kids were in the yard when a neighbor’s dog ran into the yard. The children tried to pet the dog, and the dog bit her grandson in the face. The deputy called the dog’s owner, who said the dog was past due on its rabies vaccination. She also said she wanted to give up the dog because she was afraid it would bite again. The dog was taken to the animal shelter and placed in a 10-day rabies quarantine for observation.
June 30
Burglary-second degree
A Guyton man said his pistol had been stolen from his truck. He said he normally locks his door but found it was unlocked earlier that day, and then noticed his pistol missing.
June 29
Deputies responded to a Clyo home, where a man said some of his firearms had been taken from a gun rack in a carport closet.
June 28
Burglary-first degree
A Springfield man said he had gone to his daughter’s house for dinner and he when he got home, he discovered his desk drawer had been opened and it appeared someone had gone through it. He said he didn’t think anything of it and went to bed. When he went into his closet, he found his rifle had been moved from its previous location. He also found his wife’s wedding ring missing and some change also was missing. He said a relative told him she had come over to deliver vegetables and saw a strange car parked under the carport.
June 25
Burglary
A Springfield man said someone took a book bag out of his car overnight. The book bag contained a laptop computer, credit cards and a pistol with two clips. He said he got in touch with his bank, which told him several transactions had been attempted with his credit cards.
