Police blotter
The following accounts were taken from reports filed with the Columbia County Sheriff's office.
Greenbrier student dies in Tuesday auto crash
A 17-year-old Greenbrier High School student was killed in a two-vehicle crash Tuesday morning on Hardy McManus Road.
Lea Christine Turner, of the 1000 block of Waltons Pass, Evans,was a passenger in an Acura Integra driven by Jason Banning, 21, of Martinez, said Columbia County sheriffs Capt. Steve Morris.
The accident occurred at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday when the driver of the southbound Acura lost control of the vehicle and swerved into the path of a northbound Oldsmobile Alero driven by Martha Perry, 42, of the 7200 block of Moon Town Road, Appling.
It appears he ran off the road onto the shoulder, overcorrected and swerved into the northbound lane, Morris said.
The driver of the Acura was airlifted to Medical College of Georgia Hospital. Perry received only minor injuries, Morris said, adding that charges are pending.
Gun incident reported
A Grovetown man told police Thursday someone threatened him with a gun outside a Martinez business.
Charleston Travis Avery, 20, of the 100 block of South Old Belair Road, said that while exiting the parking lot of Yeong's Pantry in Martinez on South Belair Road at about 8 p.m., he noticed a green Mitsubishi Galant enter the roadway from Plantation Drive, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office report.
Avery said the Galant pulled alongside his car, and two men inside began yelling at him. When Avery pulled into the lot of the Circle K on South Belair Road, the Galant followed, the report stated. Avery said the driver exited and said, "I just do five years in jail, what's up?" The man then reportedly opened the car's trunk and pulled out a black pistol.
As Avery backed out of the lot, he said a passenger in the Galant exited and started running toward him. Avery said he went home and called the sheriff's office. While at home, he said, the two men drove by his house several times yelling at him, the report states.
Shoplifting reports
Two similar shoplifting incidents involving candy and cigarettes at Martinez gas stations were reported to police Thursday.
Julie Ann Linaweaver, 18, a clerk at the Circle K on South Belair Road, told police that at about 2 p.m., a man approached the counter with a pack of Starburst Fruit Chews and asked for two boxes of Newport menthol cigarettes, according to a Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.
Linaweaver said the man grabbed the candy and cigarettes and ran out of the store without paying.
Samantha Lavette Mason, 32, a worker at Pump N Shop on Baston Road, told police a man also approached the counter at her business at about 10 p.m. the same day, placing a pack of Starburst Fruit Chews on the counter and asking for two boxes of Newport menthol cigarettes, the report states.
Mason said the man in that incident also grabbed the candy and cigarettes and left without paying.
Counterfeit bills discovered
A Richmond County sheriff's deputy reported a counterfeit bill to Columbia County officials on Thursday.
Jason Michael Brown, 22, a road deputy for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, told police Friday he received a $20 bill and a $10 bill from K-Mart on Washington Road in Martinez, after cashing a personal check at about 3 p.m. Thursday, according to a sheriff's office report.
Brown said he then went to a business in Richmond County, where he tried to use the $20 to pay for merchandise. The store clerk refused to take the bill after discovering it was counterfeit, the report stated.
Brown, who was in his duty uniform at the time, turned the bill over to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.
At about the same time Thursday, Renee Doyle Messerly, 37, said someone also passed a counterfeit $20 bill at the Circle K on South Belair Road, where she is the manager, the report stated.
Deliveryman robbed
A pizza deliveryman told police he was robbed at gunpoint while making a delivery Saturday night.
Ben Owen Young Jr., 42, of Wrightsboro Road, told police someone ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut just after 10 p.m. by the name of Strongman to be delivered to an Otis Way home in Harlem, according to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office incident report.
After knocking on the home's door, Young said a black man wearing a blue bandana across his face opened the door and pointed a handgun at him, demanding money, the report stated.
Young said he shut the glass door and fell off the porch. The man, however, reportedly demanded money again, so Young gave him $15.
The man also told Young to give him his cell phone, but Young told him he didn't have one. That caused the man to walk back inside the house.
Police responded to the scene, but no one was inside the home when they arrived. Young said the gun was possibly a semiautomatic and that the man held it in his left hand "gangster style."