Police Blotter 14 Oct. 2010

ARCENY OF MONEY ($1000 OR LESS) (10/1/10)

At 5:47 p.m., a reporting officer arrived at the Winthrop Coliseum in response to complaints about larceny of money from the locker room of the men’s soccer team.

The officer met with the coach and three players. Two of the players said an unknown person had taken money from their wallets between 2 and 7 p.m. on Sept. 23.

They said their wallets were left unsecured in their respective locker areas.

The first player said $50 had been taken from his wallet, while the other player said $60 had been taken from his.

They went on to say they had again left their wallets unsecured in their respective dressing areas of the locker room.

None of them could provide information on a potential suspect.

Police inspected the main locker room door and found no attempts of forced entry.

The lock on the door appeared to be in good repair and functioning properly.

Each dressing space/locker in the room has a lockable storage bin, but most players elect not to use it, the police report said.

The men’s basketball team’s locker room is adjacent to the soccer team’s locker room. Both teams also share a common shower room.

The inspection found that all the main and connecting doors to the locker rooms were closed and locked.

The players and coach said, to the best of their knowledge, all the doors had been closed and locked during the times the incidents took place.

They did say someone with access could have propped a door or doors open.

The coach said the combination on the main locker room door has not been changed for an extended period.

Many previous team members still have the combination.

Several other key athletics employees also have the combination.

D.U.I.; V.D.L. GENERIC XANAX; POSSESSION/CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL UNDER 21 (10/3/10)

At 2:12 a.m., an officer observed a highly intoxicated white male walking to his vehicle near College Avenue and Cherry Road.

The officer noticed the male fell to the ground twice while walking. The male then got in the driver’s seat of a Cadillac Deville and drove down College Avenue in the direction of Eden Terrace.

The driver turned left from College Avenue onto Eden Terrace, while another officer watched from the parking lot of Withers.

The driver turned right onto Charlotte Avenue but the officer caught up with him near Myrtle Drive.

As the reporting officer continued to follow the driver, the vehicle began to sway to the left, crossing the center line on Charlotte Avenue just before Sumter Avenue.

The driver turned left onto Sumter and drove in the center of the roadway.

The driver then took a wide right turn onto Forrest Lane and began to steer the vehicle to the right side of the roadway, then to the left and then into the center of the road.

The vehicle continued to sway to the left and right as it traveled down Forrest Lane.

The officer following the vehicle turned on the blue lights of his patrol vehicle to signal the driver to pull over.

The driver pulled over at a stop sign. The officer asked the driver if he had been drinking.
“No,” the driver said.

The officer asked the driver to step out of the vehicle and to the rear. Once at the rear of the vehicle, the officer asked the driver again if he had been drinking.

“No,” the driver said again.

During this time, the driver had chewing gum in his mouth and the officer could smell alcohol coming from him.

The officer then asked the driver to perform standardized field sobriety tests.

During the first test, the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test, the driver was unable to keep his head still.

Before taking the second test, the Nine Step Walk and Turn Test, the driver lost his balance and fell to the right twice.

While taking the test, the driver took two steps and began to hold his arms away from his body to help maintain his balance.

The driver walked straight, counting out loud with each step until he reached step 11 and fell to the left.

The driver turned around and continued to count each step out loud, starting at 16 and ending at 29.

During the final test, the One Leg Stand Test, the driver lost his balance and fell backwards on three separate counts.

The officer then placed the driver under arrest and placed him in the patrol vehicle.

The officer then returned to the driver’s vehicle and found a female in the backseat of the car. He took her ID and learned that she was under 21.

The officer asked the female to step out of the vehicle and asked if she had consumed any alcohol.

The female said she hadn’t.

The officer told the female she was going to be tested on the Pass-Vr alcohol sensor to confirm if she had any alcohol in her system.

She said she didn’t have any alcohol but agreed to the test. The officer conducted the test to find that she did have alcohol in her system.

The female said she did not understand what the officer had asked her before. She said she had a drink earlier in the night.

The female was arrested and transported to Rock Hill City Jail, along with the driver.

Once at the jail, the driver refused to provide a sample for testing. The officer booked the driver to the jail for

D.U.I. The reporting officer returned to the Winthrop Police Department and searched the rear seat of his patrol vehicle.

He found that the driver had intentionally pushed two Alprazolam pills (generic Xanax) between the seat cushions and under the seat.

The driver is the only person to have entered that particular patrol vehicle that day, the police report said.

Compiled by Jonathan McFadden