Police blotter

Evidence lands on patrol car's hood

A driver clutching a small bag of cocaine lost control of his mo-ped in front of a Charleston police officer and tried to discard the evidence, which landed on the hood of an unmarked patrol car, reports say.

Officers noticed the mo-ped weaving erratically. The driver traveled into the oncoming lane of traffic, hit gravel and lost his balance.

As the officer approached, the driver threw an object he was holding in his hand, which turned out to be cocaine, reports say. Police said the driver also had been drinking. He was charged with possession of cocaine and DUI 2nd offense.

'Hippie doctor' blamed for pill

Among the specialties in the medical field, add this one: "hippie doctor."

That's where a woman told a Charleston police officer she'd gotten a capsule that didn't match the contents of a prescription bottle she had in her possession.

The officer stopped the woman's Mazda after seeing it roll through a stop sign. The officer found the capsule after asking the woman if he could search the car.

She gave several different explanations for the capsule, including "it's prescribed for pain" and "it's a probiotic" before saying it wasn't from a "real doctor," but was prescribed by her "hippie doctor."

The officer seized the capsule for further investigation and wrote the woman a traffic ticket for running the stop sign.

CARTA bus driver slapped in head

A CARTA passenger got physical with the driver when he stopped the bus because she was being disruptive, reports say.

The woman boarded the bus at a local hospital and started yelling profanities at a passenger, Charleston police said. The driver had the passenger sit beside him, but the woman reportedly took a swing at the passenger.

The driver stopped and refused to move because he wanted the woman to leave. Police said she slapped the back of the driver's head.

Man cited for theft of cable television

A North Charleston man who said he got cable on the sly because it was the only way he could afford it wound up with an expensive citation when he was caught stealing the utility service.

A woman called the Charleston County Sheriff's Office when she noticed an orange cable line spliced from her cable line. The line ran to another property.

Deputies questioned the man at that property, and he admitted paying $15 to someone to connect the cable. His service recently had been cut off because he couldn't afford it, he said.

Deputies issued the man a citation for theft of cable TV, which carries a $470 bond.

DUI charge: Man asks police for ride

It was just past midnight in downtown Charleston when a 28-year-old man leaned into a car window, said he was very intoxicated and didn't want to drive for fear of getting arrested for driving under the influence.

Problem was, he made the confession to a police officer and asked for a ride to another bar. The officer said told the man to take a cab home. The officer watched the man hail a cab and get in. The cab drove off.

About 10 minutes later, the officer passed by the man's SUV and noticed the tail lights were on. As the driver maneuvered out of his parking spot, he drove over the curb and onto the sidewalk.

When the officer stopped the SUV, the driver immediately got out and said he was "stupid" for driving after he was warned. He told the officer he'd taken the cab to the end of the block, where he got out and walked back to his SUV. He went to jail on a DUI charge.

These items were taken from selected incident reports from the Charleston Police Department and Charleston County Sheriff's Office.