AT LEAST 15 manhole covers have been stolen recently. While these are the first reports of such thefts in Savannah, other cities report manhole covers being stolen and sold at salvage depots.
This is a significant safety issue for motorists, pedestrians and especially young children who may run into the street and fall down an uncovered manhole.
The first four manholes were taken over the weekend of Sept. 13-14 from Al Henderson Boulevard. On Sept. 15, a report of a missing manhole cover along Glen Oaks Drive in Brandlewood was received by Sewer Maintenance, and on Sept. 16 a report was made of 10 manhole covers that had been stolen along Shady Grove Lane in the Canebrake Village subdivision.
Local salvage centers have been asked not to accept manhole covers. Police ask that anyone with information about the thefts contact CrimeStoppers at 234-2020. Persons who see a missing manhole cover or an open manhole should call 3-1-1.
• A Hall Street resident was startled when he received his water bill and noticed that there not only was a late charge, but that his payment from the last month was overdue. When he called his bank, he was told that the city water company never cashed the check. However, it was cashed at a liquor store.
The man called police and provided the officer who arrived with the check date and number, plus an image of the check, showing it had been cashed at the liquor store. When asked how someone could have obtained the check, the man said he mailed it, leaving it in his mail box so the postal carrier would pick it up.
Later in the day, the man called police again to report that a second check had been stolen from his mailbox and cashed. That check was made out to a local doctor’s office.
• A woman told police she paid a man $10 for a ride to Thunderbolt from her home in Savannah. At the corner of Skidaway Road and East 37th Street, the man began punching her for no reason. The woman was covered in blood and the officer observed a cut by her left eye and a broken tooth. The woman said her boyfriend tried to get the man off her. The two men left the scene in a truck was that later found at a convenience store.
The suspect told police that the woman had jumped on him while he was driving. The officer observed that the man had small cuts on his cheeks.
• A St. Catherine Road resident told police she was having problems with her neighbors. She said in the past the ongoing problems have included the neighbors’ children, their dogs and, most recently, with trash that they threw in her yard during the night. She said she and her children, ages 8 and 11, left the house to go get takeout, and as they passed the neighbors house, one man shouted at her, “Hi, sexy,” and his brother yelled, “Hi, bitch.”
• Police were called to a Waters Avenue restaurant on a robbery.
The owner said he was locking up and planning to go to the bank when the suspect walked up from behind and demanded that the man not lock the door and to give him the bank bags. The suspect began to lift the man’s shirt, then ran from the scene.
The owner said he didn’t recognize the man, didn’t see a weapon, and wasn’t hurt.
He said he went inside and advised the general manager about the robbery and asked him to call 911. A witness was returning from the dumpster when he saw the suspect running through the parking lot. The witness said that when he first arrived for work that day, he saw the suspect sitting on some steps across the street. He said he didn’t know the suspect, but that he would recognize him if he saw him again. cs
Give anonymous crime tips to Crimestoppers at 234-2020
