The Scanner: Take It To Go

LOOKING FOR HANDOUTS Many hotels offer free breakfast for guests, but not all of them. One man assumed there was free breakfast at a Four Points by Sheraton hotel in southwest Charlotte last week and ended up getting the cops called on him. Staff told officers the man ate breakfast at around 7:15 a.m. then refused to pay. For good measure, he went into the hotel gift shop and grabbed two Gatorades, a Kit Kat bar and a bag of peanuts that he also refused to pay for before leaving the hotel.

DOUBLE JEOPARDY In another instance of people helping themselves, police responded to a Quik Shoppe gas station on Eastway Drive after a man came back to the scene of a crime to commit the same crime again. A manager told officers that the suspect walked out of the store with a case of Corona beer at around 10:30 a.m., and that the same man had walked out of the store with a case of beer the previous day.

SELF-MEDICATING A 20-year-old man near Sheffield Park in east Charlotte called police recently after some medication he took had the opposite effect of what he was hoping for. The man told officers that “he ingested a prescription, not prescribed to him, that made him feel weak and sick to his stomach.” We suggest that you stick to the prescription drugs that, you know, you’ve been ordered to take by a doctor.

DISAPPEARING CAR It’s a great feeling to walk out of the barber or salon after getting a fresh cut, and there aren’t many things that can take that away from you — but there are some. One 26-year-old Mint Hill woman was humbled quickly after leaving her salon last week. She later told police that she went inside the Sassy Salon on Independence Boulevard at about 11:30 a.m. to get her hair cut, and when she came out just 45 minutes later, someone had stolen her Mazda Protege.

NAMES & FACES Police recently raided a house in the Hidden Valley neighborhood apparently targeting a man who has been previously named in court records as an alleged leader of the Hidden Valley Kings gang that once controlled the neighborhood. According to a police report, officers seized a loaded Glock 17 and a small amount of marijuana during the raid. They also took seven cell phones from the residence and a letter addressed to the suspect from his lawyer that stated his government name, along with a Halloween greeting card addressed to “My Face,” a reference to the suspect’s nickname.

OLD FRIENDS A 63-year-old police officer was enjoying a breakfast break at 7:30 a.m. in the Freedom Village shopping center in west Charlotte on a recent morning when he got a visit from a resident who recognized him from some earlier confrontation. The officer later filed a non-criminal report stating that the subject approached him and “expressed displeasure in reference to an earlier contact, then acted suspiciously before leaving the area.” It doesn’t list specifically why the officer felt uncomfortable enough to file the report, but it’s safe to say he’ll be ordering his breakfast elsewhere for the time being.

WAKANDA FOREVER Police caught a man in the act as he tried to break into a funeral home in west Charlotte, and despite his disguise, they took him into custody. According to the report, officers responded to the scene after receiving a breaking-and-entering call and saw the suspect speeding away from the scene while still wearing a Black Panther mask. Listed on the report is everything they seized from the man: the outfit and mask that he was wearing, five latex gloves, a steering wheel, multiple power tools, a Louisville Slugger baseball bat and, inexplicably, a bunch of football cards. The window to the funeral home was broken, but nothing was listed as stolen.

BODY OF EVIDENCE A 27-year-old woman living in a trailer park in north Charlotte filed a police report last week after someone stole her wallet, which contained $2,000. It’s going to be an awkward few days for the woman, however, as she told police “she thinks her roommate took her money … but she has no proof,” according to the report.

DON’T SLEEP A 36-year-old man also fell victim to a theft from somebody within his living quarters, except he won’t be able to find the suspect as easily as the above victim. The man called police and told them that he had been hanging out in the hotel room in which he and another man live at an InTown Suites in University City. He told officers that he fell asleep at around 1:30 a.m., and when he woke up, his so-called friend was gone. He started to realize there was a problem when he couldn’t find his car keys, and sure enough, when he went out to the parking lot he realized that his friend had taken off with his Honda Accord while he was snoozing.

Reports are pulled from the files of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty.