Police Blotter

Domestic charge follows swordplay

A West Ashley man reported to Charleston County sheriff's deputies that his live-in girlfriend assaulted him and damaged their personal property with a sword.

An incident report says deputies were dispatched Oct. 24 to the altercation. The 46-year-old complainant was bleeding from his head when deputies arrived, a report says. He told deputies an argument began when he refused a request from his 42-year-old girlfriend, and it escalated. He said she began swinging the sword, and he wrestled it away from her, fearing she would hurt herself. He said he restrained her while dialing 911 as she tried to get the sword back, the report states.

The man said that after he called 911, the woman grabbed a bottle of perfume and smacked him in the side of his head, causing the swelling and bleeding observed by deputies, the report says.

The woman was gone when deputies arrived. The man told deputies he did not wish to press charges, but deputies gathered information and evidence, including the perfume bottle, plus statements for a possible prosecution by the state, the report says.

The report says deputies located the woman later and charged her with criminal domestic violence.

Breath test leads to DUI charge

While in police custody, a suspected drunken driver at first reportedly said "none" when asked how many beers he'd consumed. He later revised his answer to "two beers" and then confided, "I had six," according to a Charleston police report.

A breath test, however, may have settled the issue for investigators. Shortly after the 21-year-old driver was charged with driving under the influence, he blew into a machine that calculated his blood-alcohol concentration at 0.22 percent, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08, a report says.

'Pounding' sound remains a mystery

A Hollywood resident told the Charleston County Sheriff's Office about hearing a "continuous pounding sound" coming from her home's rear door area late Oct. 23.

The complainant reported she eventually looked outside but didn't see anything or anyone who could be causing the noise, a report says.

The pounding sound returned, but again no source for it could be seen, she reported. Later, she pointed out for a deputy what appear to be pry marks on the door, but the deputy concluded the marks appear to be old ones, the report says.

Husband shares bogus $50 bill

A woman who spent a $50 bill her estranged husband left for her on the kitchen counter later had to answer questions posed by police. The bill was a counterfeit, according to a Charleston police report.

The woman spent the bill Oct. 19 at a West Ashley store. Police responding to the store clerk's call found the woman in the parking lot. Police got names and other information, and took the $50 note into evidence, the report says.

'Cartwheels' roll woman to jail

Disorderly conduct and public drunkenness charges were made Oct. 24 in downtown against a woman a Charleston police report alleges was making obscene gestures to people and "doing cartwheels and pirouettes along the sidewalk."

The woman also made a racially inflammatory comment, and when confronted by an officer immediately placed her hands behind her back, the report states.

The woman, who reportedly smelled strongly of alcohol and stated she had "two quarts" to drink, gave a name but would not give an age or Social Security number, the report says.

A reason for bad TV reception?

A man who went to jail on a disorderly conduct charge confided he "definitely had too much" to drink before behaving strangely in downtown, a Charleston police report says.

An officer wrote that he was flagged down just after midnight Oct. 18 by a resident who reported a man was "hanging off a satellite dish." The officer then saw the man dangling from the dish, the report says.

The man let go of the dish and was seen walking across the back of a pickup truck, struggling to keep his balance, the report states. The 21-year-old man reportedly had a strong odor of alcohol and stated he'd been drinking at his nearby home. He was charged and lodged at the Charleston County Detention Center, the report says.

Officer: Show me your beer cans

A police officer asked a suspected drunken driver to point out the empty beer cans that would validate his claim that he'd been drinking at home and had not driven home already drunk.

The driver could not show the cans and reportedly admitted to the officer that he had lied. He was charged with driving under the influence, a Charleston police report says.

The report says the officer questioned the man in a West Ashley apartment complex parking lot at 1 a.m. Oct. 18. A motorist, the report says, had followed the suspected drunken driver to the site after a hit-and-run collision a few miles away.

The 23-year-old suspect had glassy, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech and smelled strongly of alcohol, the report says. His story about drinking at home "became unraveled" when he could not show the officer the beer cans that would confirm he had been drinking there, the report says. The man was taken to the Charleston County Detention Center.

Items taken from reports from Charleston police and Charleston County Sheriff's Office.