Big coats in hot weather
On Sunday, March 21, police were dispatched to the A&P store at 614 Clinton St. on a report of shoplifting.
Two men wearing large winter coats in 72-degree weather were observed on a surveillance system by a store manager, allegedly placing bottles of liquor inside their jackets.
The manager attempted to chase one of the two men who left the store, but he was unsuccessful.
The other man was standing in line in the store paying for a pack of gum. The store manager saw a bulge from the man’s coat and stopped him as he was leaving the store. The manager asked the man for the bottle. The man allegedly possessed a 1.75 liter bottle of Johnnie Walker Red Label Scotch Whiskey. He handed it over, according to the police report.
The man was escorted to the office while police were called to the store.
At headquarters, the man allegedly gave police a fake name, Manuel M., which police could not confirm to be him. The man offered for the police to call his brother and verify the name, but said his brother calls him Pedro, according to the police report.
The man’s brother told police he did not know a Manuel M., but that his brother’s name was Pedro Garcia, according to the report.
Police found seven warrants in New Jersey for Pedro Garcia, 32. He was additionally charged with shoplifting.
Taxi tussle
Two taxi drivers allegedly assaulted each other in the middle of Washington Street, but neither signed a complaint against the other.
On Thursday, March 25, Cabbie 1 told police he was heading down Washington Street was being closely followed by Cabbie 2. Cabbie 1 pulled over at 123 Washington St. to find out why Cabbie 2 was tailing him, Cabbie 1 told police, and Cabbie 2 pulled up next to him and began screaming and yelling, according to Cabbie 1.
Cabbie 1 told police he asked Cabbie 2 to leave him alone, but that Cabbie 2 left his cab, approached the other taxi, allegedly punched Cabbie 1 in the face, got back in his cab, and drove away. Cabbie 1 went to police headquarters to lodge a complaint.
Police contacted Cabbie 2, who told them that while he was driving south on Washington Street at Second Street, Cabbie 1 purposefully slammed on his brakes so that Cabbie 2 would crash into the rear of his vehicle. Cabbie 2 said he laid on his horn, but that Cabbie 1 kept hitting his brakes.
Cabbie 2 agreed that the two men pulled over at 123 Washington St., but he said it was Cabbie 1 who got out of his vehicle and began screaming and yelling at that point.
He told police that it was Cabbie 1 who hit him first, and that he returned a punch in self-defense.
Neither taxi driver filed a complaint, nor did they require medical attention.
Quit legit?
An assistant director of a local daycare center filed a harassment complaint against a former employee who she said was intentionally spreading false allegations about the daycare center to take away business.
The assistant director told police that a former employee, whom we’ll call “Ms. X” (not her real initial), while still working at the establishment, complained to the director about an unspecified offensive comment and told her that she wanted to quit.
The director told Ms. X that she could leave without waiting two weeks, and Ms. X quit, according to the police report.
The next day, a parent of one of the children in the daycare center called to remove her child, claiming that Ms. X told her that the director mistreated the children by giving them cold baths and letting them cry on the floor without attending to them.
The parent told the director that she was removing her child so that Ms. X could watch the child. The director denied the claims, but refunded her payment.
The next day another parent called claiming Ms. X told her the same thing.
The daycare director suspected that Ms. X had quit and was spreading rumors in an attempt to take their business. The director contacted the state to alert them of the situation, and the state said they had not received any complaints.
The director again contacted the upset parents and assured them that nothing unusual or cruel was going on at the center, and one of the two complaining parents re-enlisted her child in the daycare.