The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office handled the following incidents in Lakeland during the first half of September. For later September incidents, see next week’s issue of The Bartlett Express.
Editor’s note: All suspects are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and values are estimated for stolen/damaged items. These are brief summaries of detailed SCSO reports.
Sept. 1
U.S. 64 (simple assault/domestic violence)
Deputies were at a traffic stop about 12:30 a.m. Sept. 1 when an unknown witness pulled alongside to report a black male was beating a female down the road in a white car. Deputies quickly responded. They found a white sedan parked with no lights on in front of 8950 U.S. 64.
They found a woman in the car, bleeding from the face, a man sitting on the curb trying to call 911, and the woman’s four-year-old daughter on the car’s backseat. Deputies told the woman to contact family to come and get the child.
Both said they had gone to a club and there was tension when they got into the woman’s car. He said he lived in Bartlett and the woman refused to take him home and instead drove to Cordova to pick up her child. He said she assaulted him, striking him several times in the face, and he attacked her in self-defense. The woman, however, said she was trying to put him out of her vehicle when he attacked her, which was consistent with what the witness saw.
The deputies saw no injuries on the man other than minor scrapes on his knuckles. He had blood all over his shirt, leading deputies to believe the blood was hers because of her injuries and his lack of injuries to match his version of events. A deputy took photos at the scene.
Memphis Fire Unit 30 treated the victim on scene. Deputies took the man to Saint Francis-Bartlett to be checked out because he was intoxicated.
The deputies found him to be the primary aggressor based on the woman’s injuries and the witness statement.
U.S. 64 (misdemeanor shoplifting)
The store manager at AutoZone (9760 U.S. 64) reported a shoplifting on Sept. 1. He said a woman entered around 9 a.m. and asked about a GB battery jump starter ($129), and he showed here where they were. She stayed in the area for about 10 minutes and then left. He then found an empty jump starter box on the shelf where she had lingered.
The suspect left headed east, driving a blue 2000 model BMW with a Mississippi license plate and a customized front tag that read “The Kid.”
Sept. 2
Three Iron Drive (simple assault/domestic violence)
Two generations living together found nothing but conflict on Sept. 2. A boyfriend and girlfriend on the 9200 block of Three Iron Drive were letting his father and stepmother stay in the apartment with them until they can afford to find somewhere else to live.
The younger couple returned home around 11 p.m., and the son knocked on his father’s bedroom door to talk with him about the money situation. The girlfriend said the father got very upset and kept raising his voice until he was yelling, “What do you want to do about it?”
She told her version of what happened next: The father charged at his son, who swung at his father and pushed him back. The father then put his son in a chokehold and kept the hold while punching his face and dragging him across the wall. While the son was trying to free himself, the father pushed him into the wall hard enough to knock a hole in it. Then the stepmother charged at the girlfriend while she was yelling at her husband to stop fighting and let his son go. The son pulled free from his father and grabbed his stepmother by the shirt to pull her off his girlfriend, and the stepmother began slapping his face. She said the stepmother also scratched her on the arm, although officers didn’t observe any scratch marks there. The boyfriend’s story matched hers, and markings on the wall in the residence matched the girlfriend’s story.
The older couple then left, but not before the son tried to keep them there because he wanted to help his father, the girlfriend said. In his attempt, he laid his hands on the hood of the car, but the father took off anyway.
The responding officers saw swelling on both of the son’s cheekbones and scratch marks on his neck. He said he felt dizzy and lightheaded and had a headache, but he refused transportation when an ambulance unit made the scene.
Officers were notified that the father and stepmother were at the Kroger on U.S. 64 waiting for police. The stepmother said she was just trying to break up the fight. The father said his son was yelling about money, and he said the fight began when he pushed his son away with open palms. The father said the son punched first, put the father in a chokehold and punched his face. However, the officers only saw a scratch on the father’s nose. They saw no marks on the father’s neck or face that indicated a chokehold or punches to the face.
A crime scene technician took photos. The father was charged with aggravated assault domestic violence and arrested.
Sept. 3
Blue Bridge Cove (aggravated assault/domestic violence)
A couple’s simmering divorce argument erupted into violence, according to a Sept. 3 report.
The wife said she and her husband were arguing in the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 3 about their possible forthcoming divorce. Then while she was in the master bath sometime after 2:40 a.m., he grabbed her throat and tried to strangle her, she said: His first attempt made it hard for her to breath and a second attempt made her black out. She came to in the closet and convulsed as she retained consciousness. She said he told her he would kill her if she told anyone about the incident.
She said she grabbed her pillow and the PDA she uses for an alarm clock and walked to another bedroom to sleep. As she entered the hallway on the opposite end of the home, he slammed her into a door frame and wall, she said.
Officers saw redness on both sides of her neck consistent with strangulation, as well as several small nicks as if fingernails had damaged the skin. They also saw a small laceration above her right eye and a small laceration on the right corner of her mouth, as well as hallway damage consistent with the attack she described (a hole in the Sheetrock about 4 inches in diameter). She refused medical attention at the scene.
The husband fled before police arrived, taking her 2008 Honda Accord without her permission, she said. Officers took photos of her injuries as well as the damage to the home. The incident happened on the 3400 block of Blue Bridge Cove.
Sept. 4
Canada Road (embezzlement)
Waffle House staff (3640 Canada Road) reported Sept. 4 that another employee stole $426.62 from the register the previous day and left after the incident. Deputies observed a recording of the incident on closed circuit TV.
Staff advised deputies that the suspect is a resident at Motel 6, which the clerk there confirmed.
Lake Breeze Cove (misdemeanor vandalism)
Someone smashed the outer pane of a home’s glass back door while the family was out of town Sept. 1-4. The responding deputy didn’t find anything that had been thrown through the glass, and the complainant said she didn’t believe anything else had been disturbed.
Sept. 5
Canada Road (business robbery)
A white male suspect caught in another nearby robbery is believed to be the same one who was unsuccessful in holding up the Relax Inn (3645 Canada Inn) just minutes earlier.
Officers arrived at the Relax Inn at 2:20 p.m. Sept. 5, and the clerk said she ran when the suspect walked in and pointed a gun at her. She ran to the door that leads to a living area just off the lobby. The man fled toward the back of the motel. Her video showed him running west from the office entrance toward the back of the motel. He wore a black T-shirt with white lettering and dark shorts, and he carried a black handgun.
While officers were on site, dispatch notified them of a robbery in progress at the nearby Motel 6. See the next incident for details.
Huff N Puff (business robbery)
Officers on the scene of a nearby attempted robbery (see incident above) were quick to arrive at the Motel 6 (9822 Huff N Puff Road) about a reported armed robbery on Sept. 5.
The clerk said a white male pointed a gun at her and demanded the money from the register. She recognized him because he had been at the motel for about three weeks. She gave officers his name and room number. He wasn’t in the room, so deputies returned to the front desk to view video of the incident.
He was wearing a black T-shirt with white lettering that spelled out “BIG SACK” on the front with what looked like dark shorts (perhaps camouflage). He appeared to have a short hair cut and was pointing a black hand gun at the clerk.
Officers put his description out over the radio, and a sergeant and two deputies found him at a park just north of the motel. They chased him on foot, and he dumped the gun while running, but officers caught him several yards after that. They also took photos of the weapon (a black BB gun) and took it into custody. Officers also learned that he gave a female the money from the robbery.
Chi Chi Cove (simple assault/domestic violence)
Strangulation was the violence of choice for another angry husband, this time on the 9500 block of Chi Chi Cove, according to the wife’s report.
She said she was lying down with her six-year-old daughter around 10:15 p.m. when he came in, wanting her to sleep with him instead. They argued, and she said he started pulling her out of the bed. The two began throwing punches, and the fight barreled throughout the house until they got to the bathroom, when he pushed her to the floor and started choking her, she said.
She said she never blacked out or became dizzy, but at some point he busted her lip and hit her nose hard enough to make it bleed. Officers saw red marks along her neck and blood inside her nose that matched her story. The man’s story matched hers, but he had no visible markings. The crime scene technician took photos.
Officers decided the man was the primary aggressor, charged him with aggravated assault domestic violence and arrested him.
Canada Road (misdemeanor shoplifting)
An employee at Walgreen’s (2960 Canada Road) said a suspect kept making requests that made him look down or away until the suspect decided he was sufficiently distracted and reached behind the counter and stole some Newport cigarettes. The employee chased the male outside but tripped and fell, getting minor scrapes on his face and elbow.
Surveillance tape showed that the suspect was a black male wearing a red T-shirt, a red-and-black plaid vest, blue jeans, red-and-white tennis shoes and a blue baseball cap.
Sept. 8
Huff N Puff Road (aggravated assault)
A male and female were inside a Ford Taurus, parked in the rear parking lot of Motel 6 (9822 Huff N Puff Road), playing the video game Pokémon Go, around 9:20 p.m. Sept. 8.
A suspect walked up and asked the female, “You know how to get to Sycamore View?” Then he walked closer, pointed a black revolver at the male and said, “Get the f___ out of the car.”
The male instead drove away. No injuries were reported.
The weapon had a barrel between four and six inches long. Officers weren’t able to locate the suspect.
Sept. 9
U.S. 64 (aggravated assault/domestic violence)
Officers responded to a 911 call on Sept. 9 that a woman’s boyfriend of two years was ramming her car with his.
She said the incident started at the Family Dollar Store (9109 U.S. 64). She was sitting with another boyfriend in her Volkswagen Beetle when the long-term boyfriend pulled up behind them in his Toyota Camry. The long-term boyfriend got out, pulled on her driver’s side window, and she drove away eastbound on U.S. 64 and then northbound on Davies Plantation. Then he rammed her Beetle from the back, she said.
She turned west on Fletcher Trace and then east on U.S. 64, where he rammed her Beetle three more times, she said. She made a U-turn on U.S. 64, and she said he rammed her driver’s side door when she made it to the intersection of Stage Road and Kirby Whitten.
They traveled about a mile north on Kirby Whitten Road when his Camry blew a tire, and he got out of the car and chased them on foot, southbound on Kirby-Whitten, holding a switchblade knife, she said.
The newer boyfriend said the other man rammed the Beetle for about 20 minutes until he rammed them off the road and exited with a metal object in his hand.
The long-term boyfriend admitted to chasing and ramming the Beetle several times and chasing the couple on foot with a switchblade knife.
There were no injuries in the incident, and both cars were towed. The long-term boyfriend was arrested on aggravated assault/domestic violence and other charges.
Sept. 10
Tennessee 385 and Stewart Road (felony drugs/narcotics violation)
The driver of a white Ford Mustang who blew through a stop sign also had a bag of marijuana in plain sight when a deputy pulled him over.
The officer saw him disregard the stop sign exiting Tennessee 385 at Stewart Road. The driver had no valid proof of insurance, and the officer saw a clear plastic baggie containing a green leafy substance that looked and smelled like marijuana. The officer also found a silver electronic scale and a silver grinder, commonly used to grind marijuana into small pieces, with a residue of what seemed to be marijuana on it. The baggie’s contents were later tested and found to be 15.6 grams (total gram weight) of marijuana. The officer took the driver to Shelby County Jail without incident, and another person drove the suspect’s car away for him.
Sept. 11
Canada Road (residential burglary)
The owner of Deb Wade Estate Sales arrived at a property on the 4400 block of Canada Road on Sept. 11 to find multiple TVs missing. She told the responding deputies that a 32-inch flat-screen TV was missing from the master bedroom and a 65-inch flat-screen was forcefully removed from its mount in the living room. Fifteen dollars in change was also missing from a drawer in the dining room.
She said she closed business operations at the house and ensured all doors were closed and locked around 4 p.m. on Sept. 10. The responding deputies saw no signs of forced entry. One deputy took crime scene photos.
Pleasant Ridge Road (motor vehicle theft/motorcycle)
Someone stole an all-terrain vehicle from a family’s carport on the 9900 block of Pleasant Ridge Road, the victim reported on Sept. 11.
The item stolen was a red Honda Foreman 400 ATV with damaged handlebars and custom-installed Mud Lite tires and a lift kit. The key in the ignition was attached to a key chain that also held four other keys. The victim did not immediately have the TV’s model or serial numbers at the time of the report.
He discovered the theft on Sept. 9. He said he can submit photos of the ATV upon request. No witness or suspect information was available.
U.S. 64 (felony vandalism)
An employee at Dunkin Donuts (8984 U.S. 64) noticed that the exterior light above the building’s rear access door was gone, the door’s peephole was removed and the inside of the door where the peephole was installed seemed damaged. He said he believes someone is watching the business.
The responding deputy saw a security camera installed above the rear access door but couldn’t review the security footage immediately because the manager wasn’t able to make the scene. The manager was advised to save any security footage related to the damaged property. Total damages are estimated at $500. The deputy photographed the damaged property. No suspect information was available.
Sept. 12
Cleft Lane (identity theft)
A woman who lives on the 3200 block of Cleft Lane was surprised to hear that she had an Amazon.com card opened in her name, because she didn’t apply for one. She reported the identity theft on Sept. 12 but wasn’t able to give the officer any suspect information. She said she hasn’t had any personal identity documents stolen.
Sept. 13
Pleasant Ridge Road (residential burglary)
A woman who left her home at 1 p.m. on Sept. 13 to pick up her children from school returned at 3 p.m. to find that it had been burglarized. She first saw that her Vizio TV was missing from the living room, and she left immediately. Deputies checked the home for intruders and cleared it. Items also missing included a pair of Apple headphones, a Microsoft Xbox and another person’s Sig-Saur pistol.
The headphones’ and pistol’s serial numbers were entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
The victim said she might have left the front door unlocked. The crime scene deputy couldn’t lift any salvageable latent fingerprints at the scene but did take crime scene photos.
This home burglary happened on the 10000 block of Pleasant Ridge Road.
Sept. 14
Davies Plantation East (theft from motor vehicle)
A man who parked behind the Cracker Barrel restaurant (9649 Davies Plantation East) was a theft victim on Sept. 14. He parked behind the business around 1 p.m. because he was pulling a trailer. The items stolen were a suitcase and a couple of small travel bags with medical items, including a diabetic meter ($200) and multiple prescription medications (Enalaprilil, Pravastatin, Synthroid, Metformin, Nystop, Omeprazole, Vaniqa cream and several Triciba insulin pens). Also stolen was a Verizon computer pad ($400) and new clothing ($500). The total value of the items taken, including the medication, is about $1,500.
The restaurant manager is saving any surveillance video that may be available as there are functional cameras in the area of the incident.
Woodland Ash Cove and Woodland Ash Drive (suspicious complaint)
An officer responded to a complaint the night of Sept. 14 of a white male in a red shirt and camouflage shorts, stumbling through the area, trying to break the window of a red vehicle. He was sitting in an older model silver Honda and looked extremely intoxicated, one complainant said.
The responding officer saw a woman walking away from a Honda Civic. A second man meeting the suspect’s description was sitting in the driver’s seat, and the Civic’s electronics were on. The driver opened the driver’s door when the officer approached.
The officer observed that the driver’s actions were very slow, and he appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic or alcohol. He admitted that he smoked marijuana about an hour or two before the officer arrived. The woman returned to get her purse and other items from the passenger compartment of the Civic. The man said it was her car, but she said it was his.
The ignition was removed from the car’s steering wheel. The officer found that both the car and the license plate were stolen during two separate incidents.
The pair were charged with the car’s theft. The man didn’t pass the standard field sobriety field test, so he was transported for a blood draw. The car was towed. The woman was taken to Jail East, and the man was taken to Shelby County Jail at 201 Poplar.
