man60-year-old reckless driver reveals intoxication
At 5:54 p.m. Monday, OPD was dispatched to the intersection of Patterson Ave. and E. erigh St. in response to a reckless driver. The concerned caller had begun following the Toyota sedan, which was pulled over at Church and N. Poplar Streets for failure to display a license plate on the front of the vehicle, as mandated by Ohio law.
The 60-year-old driver told the officer she was under driving suspension, but had driving privileges. Whether true, the driver's claim she was returning from a visit with friend in Hamilton certainly was not one of her privileges. Informing the officer she had multiple medical conditions and was "heavily medicated," the suspect gestured to a cane in the passenger seat. According to OPD, the woman told the officer she takes Xanax four times daily.
The officer suspected the driver intoxicated, and requested she exit the vehicle. As she did, the officer realized the suspect could not stand on her own power. Again, the officer asked for the woman's medical history, and she said, rather conveniently, she had inner ear issues that inhibited her balance. Believing the walk and turn sobriety test unsafe, the officer conducted a simple horizontal gaze test, which the woman failed, revealing six clues of intoxication.
Suspecting drug misuse, the officer arrested the woman on suspicion of OVI and transported her to McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, where she submitted to a blood test in the ER. Meanwhile, a second officer preparing to impound the suspect's vehicle found in the backseat a loaded Smith and Weston model 632 revolver: a gun about as old as the suspect. He cleared three bullets from the chamber and advised the officer with the suspect at McCullough-Hyde.
The suspect, who by law cannot possess a firearm, first denied having one in the car, and then conceded she had forgotten where it was and claimed it was not hers. She was charged with Having Weapons While under Disability, Improperly Handling Firearms in a Motor Vehicle, OVI, Weapons While Intoxicated and a license plate violation. She was taken to Butler County Jail.
Recently-realeased parolee caught with drugs
Around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, an OPD officer in the Walmart parking lot, 5720 College Corner Pike, observed a white male exit the store with no merchandise. Despite a cool, 51-degree evening and gentle breeze, the man appeared to be ardently perspiring.
Concerned by this, and the suspect's eerily blank stare, the officer approached to ask if he was all right. He said he was fine and he was on his way home to Columbus, Indiana, a roughly two-hour drive west. When the officer asked what he was doing in Oxford, the suspect said he was returning from a bar in Cincinnati. The man could not produce the bar's name or a reason for his visiting a bar three hours away other than "to meet women."
Puzzled, the officer smelled no odor of alcohol on the man, who said he did not drink. The only ID the suspect could produce was his parole card issued from the Indiana Department of Corrections. The officer asked when he was released. "Monday," the man said - just six days prior.
The officer quickly discovered the suspect was wanted in Indiana on a parole violation. Before conducting a pat-down, the officer asked the man if he possessed any firearms or needles on his person.
"I don't think I have any needles on me, but there're some in my car," the man said. Taken aback, the officer asked the man if he was diabetic, or had some medical reason to use a syringe.
"No, I use them for meth and heroin," he said.
After telling the officer the needles were in his trunk and consenting to a vehicle search, the suspect watched as the officer discovered a baggie containing eight hypodermic syringes, five tourniquets, three razor blades, and alcohol swabs. The suspect was arrested, charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and taken to Butler County Jail to await extradition to the Great State of Indiana.
Drunk girl placed in OPD holding cell during visit
At 12:47 a.m. Wednesday, an OPD officer was patrolling the Oxford Commons parking lot after a recent influx of vehicle break-in reports when he heard an individual near a car. As he turned toward the woman, she noticed his presence and immediately ducked down behind the car.
Finding this deer-in-headlights routine suspicious, the officer approached to find the woman sitting on the ground, keys in hand, attempting to unlock the driver's door. The officer pulled back his inconspicuous khaki jacket to reveal his badge and asked what she was doing. She said she intended to drive Uptown, but promptly handed the officer her keys, agreeing she may not be in the best shape to drive.
When asked for ID, she removed her credit card, handed it to the officer and said, "Here's my license." According to OPD, the female admitted to being drunk and said she was in town visiting a friend. Wishing to make arrangements for the girl's safety, the officer escorted her to her friend's apartment to ensure she would be left in his care. The friend was not home, but a roommate was. After an unanswered phone call to the friend, the roommate said he knew the suspect, would take care of her and accepted her car keys from the officer.
As the officer left, he saw someone meandering through the parking lot who he hoped was the female's friend. When greeted by the officer, the man, who was indeed the friend in question, said something unintelligible and kept moving toward a vehicle from which he removed an object. Obviously intoxicated, he promptly approached the officer and began assaulting him with expletives and abusive language, OPD said. "I know the law," the male screamed amid a barrage of f**ks and other such garbage as the officer was unable to get a word in edgewise.
Now concerned for the safety of the female, the officer followed her agitated friend inside the apartment. He immediately screamed at the woman, apparently enraged at her state of intoxication, and gruffly told her to, "get the f**k out." The officer immediately removed the female from the hostile environment and while attempting to make alternative arrangements, the woman descended into a frothy state of utter incoherence and fiery emotional turmoil and distress.
At this point, her friend had approached the pair and resumed berating the officer, who raised his arm to protect himself and the woman. "You're not ready for life at Miami," the friend screamed at the trembling girl, according to OPD. The man, unprovoked, then jumped back, raised his arms and said, "I fear for my life, don't shoot," according to OPD. After ignoring the officer's pleas for her to "calm down," the hysterically screaming, profoundly intoxicated suspect was placed in the back of the police cruiser. In the backseat, the female incoherently babbled and persistently, maniacally banged on the window glass until she had broken the strobe light in the back window.
At OPD, officers placed the female subject in a holding cell to calm her down and then photographed her hands, which she had injured pounding on the window. She was charged with vandalism and two counts of disorderly conduct.