An officer was on patrol near City Market on Saturday night of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities when he saw a woman attack a man nearby.
It was shortly after 2 in the morning when the officer saw a short woman in a blue and white dress sprint up the street jump on a man’s back and punch him several times in the back of the head. The officer stepped in and separated the unhappy couple. The woman was seated on a bench and suddenly began cursing at another female sitting nearby. Then she started hitting the bystander. The officer handcuffed the aggressor due to her violent nature, and the bystander declined pressing charges. While talking with the man who had been jumped on initially, the officer learned that the angry woman with a proclivity for punching was the victim’s wife. She was mad, according to her husband, because he had given her money to go home. She attacked him because she thinks he is cheating on her.
• Officers in uniform saw a fight break out between two young men near the corner of Drayton and Congress. They attempted to break up the fight, but one of the young men struggled considerably. After the officer grabbed the man’s arm, the man pulled back and got free before he could be cuffed. A large crowd was present. The officer tried to take him down to the ground, but he countered and pushed back up to his feet. Finally the officer got him face down and climbed on his back, placing him in a “lateral vascular neck restraint,” aka a headlock. Finally, the man submitted and was cuffed. At some point during the struggle, another officer unleashed some pepper spray. EMS was called. Both subjects were arrested for fighting in public and obstruction.
• Around five o’clock on St. Patrick’s Day, an officer who was assigned to City Market was standing by the stage outside of the Wild Wing Cafe, observing the crowds. He noticed a young lady sitting down near a cooler holding a large pitcher of what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage. When the girl saw the officer, she quickly put down the pitcher and attempted the old “you can’t see the pitcher if it’s behind my leg” trick. The officer was familiar with her method of evasion, and judging by how young she looked, he approached her and asked for identification. She told him that she didn’t have any ID on her. The officer noticed that she had two wristbands indicating she had been in clubs, and also had her purse with her. He asked how old she was, and the young lady replied that she was 18. She was taken into custody and a search of her bag produced an assortment of IDs, including two different South Carolina IDs belonging to two different people, a Rhode Island ID with her name and an altered date of birth, and then her actual ID, from the great state of Maryland, which revealed she’d just celebrated her 19th birthday the week prior. She was charged with possession of alcohol by a minor and possession of a fraudulent ID card. She was taken to jail.
• On the day before St. Patrick’s Day, a downtown salon employee became disorderly and got fired. The employee became “very belligerent in front of several customers and then refused to take any of his equipment with him.” The owner of the salon called police after being informed of the situation by the salon’s managers. She told an officer that she fears retaliation against her and the business based on what she was told about the situation. She was advised on the process for obtaining a restraining order.
